FISU General Assembly Elects New President
Today, August 9th, the FISU Member Associations elected a new Executive Committee at the 32nd General Assembly in Shenzhen, China. The board will be chaired by the French Claude-Louis Gallien, former 1st Vice-President of the Federation. The former French University Hammer Throwing Champion won the election against incumbent George Killian (USA) with 76 votes to 67.
There were four candidates for the FISU Presidency. Next to Killian and Gallien, Stefan Bergh (SWE) and Risto Nimienen (FIN) had been nominated by their respective National University Sports Federations. However, right before the vote, both federations withdrew their candidates for the presidency to ‘maintain the unity inFISU’, as their respective presidents Akseli Hakala (FIN) and Johanna St:Clair Renard (SWE) announced prior to the election. Oleg Matytsin (RUS) was elected as 1st Vice-President. Mr Gallien holds a PhD in Biology and a State Doctorate in Natural Sciences.
Shortly after the vote result, Mr. Gallien addressed the General Assembly, thanking them for their vote of confidence. His first speech as the FISU President was followed by a rousing applause.
