Early Finish for Lima IOC Session

(ATR) The IOC Session in Lima, Peru, is likely to end 24 hours early, Friday afternoon.

IOC spokesmanMark Adams confirmed the possibility at a press conference at the close of day two of the meeting which was to last until Saturday.

Credit the efficiency of President Thomas Bach, who has ended the practice of spoken reports by the two dozen IOC commissions on the IOC roster.

The press learned of the possibility of the early end after the candidates for IOC Vice President and Executive Board members were announced at the end of the day's business. IOC rules set a deadline to file 24 hours before the vote. Traditionally the elections are held on the final day of the session.

IOC member in the U.S. Anita DeFrantz was confirmed as the only candidate for IOC Vice President. She is running for the seat held by John Coates of Australia.

Three seats are open in the Executive Board. Robin Mitchell of Fiji is running for the seat earmarked for a representative of the National Olympic Committees. It opened last week when Patrick Hickey of Ireland resigned. Hickey suspended himself from IOC duties following his arrest last year at the Rio Olympics on ticket touting charges.

At the time Hickey was president of the European Olympic Committees, a post that has since been filled. Mitchell is president of the Oceania National Olympic Committees.

Seeking the other two EB seats are Ivan Dibos of Peru, Nigeria's Habu Gumel, Nicole Hoevertsz from Aruba, Denis Oswald of Switzerland and Hungarian Pal Schmitt. Schmitt and Oswald, both senior IOC members, have each served multiple terms on the EB in the past. The other candidates have yet to serve.

In addition to IOC elections, the final day of the session will ratify Milan, Italy, as host for the 2019 Session, the only candidate. Mayor Giuseppe Sala will be on hand in Lima for the selection. Milan is also considering becoming a late entrant into the 2026 Olympic bid race. This could be complicated by a rule that prevents cities being elected as an Olympic host while hosting the IOC Session where that vote is taken.

New North Korea Threat

The IOC says its confidence in the safety of the 2018 Winter Olympics remains, even with a new North Korea missile launch.

North Korea launched a missile into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday. The missile flew over northern Japan prompting emergency warnings for citizens to seek safety.

"Our position remains unchanged," Adams said to reporters. "As the President said earlier in the week, there is no ‘Plan B’ and the Games are on track and looking good."

Angela Ruggiero told reporters that from her position on the Athletes Commission there has been no explicit concern from athletes about travelling to the 2018 Games.

"You rely on your NOC or your federation to give advice," Ruggiero said. "I know everyone is watching over, but we’ve been assured it is going to be one of the safest places given the amount of security in Korea. We represent the athletes, but we are monitoring the situation and we feel comfortable."

Russia Waiting Game

Ruggiero told reporters that the athletes’ commission cannot make any recommendations on Russian athletes going to the PyeongChang Olympics until evidence is presented from the IOC.

Two commissions, chaired by Samuel Schmid and Denis Oswald are reviewing evidence presented in the report from WADA independent investigator Richard McLaren. Schmid’s commission is investigating manipulations into the anti-doping system in Sochi and Oswald is investigating individual athlete anti doping manipulations.

Ruggiero says the commission’s job is to ensure that "clean athletes have the ability to compete," at the Olympic Games. She said the commission is " anxiously awaiting what are the results," from both commissions, as is the WADA athlete’s commission.

"The worst thing I think we could do is prohibiting an athlete from competing if they are clean," Ruggiero said. "If anything we are looking for the timeline to speed up and we want to ensure we have the facts well in advance from the Games."

Written by Aaron Bauerwith additional reporting by Ed Hula in Lima.

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