President Marisol Casado of Spain re-elected to top job at World Triathlon

At the 2020 World Triathlon Congress Presidential elections current incumbent Marisol Casado has been re-elected as President of World Triathlon, earning another four-year term, after winning by simple 50% majority of the136 eligible voters. Marisol Casado fended off the challenge from the sole challenger Mads Freund of Denmark who contested the Presidential election this year.

Marisol Casado of Spain who is eligible to serve another two terms as President after a 12-year maximum tenure was introduced in 2016 would have lost her IOC membership which is linked to her function as World Triathlon President if she was unseated by the Dane, who sits on the World Triathlon Sustainability Commission and the European Triathlon Union Marketing Commission. Mad Freund based his challenge on “re-establishing World Triathlon… revising the political structure…”and having the belief that he “can make positive change” in the sport and that World Triathlon “can do better”.

However, his challenge was not enough to sway the populist vote away from present incumbent Marisol Casado who has dedicated herself to furthering the sport during her tenure as president, a sport that has been part of her life since before World Triathlons first Congress in 1989. Casado has said that she wants ” to continue with this work and take it even further over another four-year term.” Her commitment is to take triathlon and its triathletes to the “highest levels and to ensure that our structure is strong, flexible and adequate.” She is proud of her achievement in the role “with more medals set to be contested in Tokyo than ever.” and lists the inclusion of a mixed relay at the Tokyo Olympics and Para-triathlon being added to the Paralympic programme, as well as the growth in the number of national federations.

The 63-year-old Spaniard was re-elected World Triathlon President unopposed in 2016 but is no stranger to being challenged for her position after she saw off South Korea’s Kyung-sun Yu at the 2012 Congress in Auckland. She was among the founding members of World Triathlon and has been on the Executive Board since 1998 and is also heavily involved in sport in her native country, serving as a member of the Spanish Olympic Committee for more than two decades. 

Casado, is the only female head of a Summer Olympic International Federation, having been appointed by the International Olympic Committee President to five Commissions: Women in Sport, Olympic Solidarity, Public Affairs and Social Development Through Sport, Coordination Commission of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris 2024 and Coordination Commission of the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad in Los Angeles 2028. Marisol Casado, an IOC member since 2010, is a very active member of the International Olympic Committee, where she also chairs the Gender Equality Review Project Working Group. She is one of the only two female Presidents of International Federations. In addition, she is a member of the ASOIF Council and Treasurer of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF).

There was some controversy leading up to the Presidential election when a complaint was filed and sent to the IOC Ethics Commission by five Members of the World Triathlon Tribunal against Marisol Casado, President; Antonio F. Arimany, Secretary General and Bernard Saint-Jean, Chair of the Legal & Constitution Committee. 

Based on the recommendations of the IOC Ethics Commission, the IOC Ethics Board decided to reject the complaint against World Triathlon, which is outside the scope of application of the IOC Ethics Commission and the IOC; and reject the complaint against Mrs Marisol Casado, IOC Member, as no breach of the IOC’s ethical principles has been demonstrated. It was demonstrated that the Tribunal had put a complaint without any evidence and with the only purpose to interfere in the elections, due to take place on Sunday 29th of November and that the five Tribunal Members, all lawyers, did not follow the internal rules of World Triathlon regarding where to file their complaint and they only tried to damage the reputation of these three people. World Triathlon and its President, Secretary General and Chair of the Legal & Constitution Committee were confident that there would be a serene election and that no other personal interests would perturb the elections.