Olympics: Ireland's Pat Hickey lost out on a seat to the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) executive board after Craig Reedie became the first Britain to be elected for almost half a century.
Hickey had been the favourite but the IOC have a tradition of electing one person from an Olympic host nation onto the board for the period covering the Games, and the members also responded to Reedie’s softly, softly campaign ahead of the 2012 London Games .
Reedie, 67, who is a former chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA), said: “I’m hugely flattered and it will be a really interesting role on the way through to London.
“I’m staggered to find out we have not had a Briton on the board since 1961 and I don’t think it can do us any harm as we move towards 2012.”
Reedie beat Hickey by 52 votes to 39 in the final round of voting after some hard campaigning by his Irish opponent appeared to have backfired.
The Scot is also a former president of the International Badminton Federation who helped the sport to become part of the Olympic programme, and has been an IOC member since 1994.
“After a sports career where I have run an international federation, put a sport in the programme and won the Games, to sit on the executive board is a perfect end to that,” added the Scot.
“My priority is to maintain the excellent relationships between the London organising committee and the IOC, and they are well liked and highly regarded by IOC staff.”
It was the third time Reedie had sought election and not since former Olympic hurdler Lord Burghley in 1961 has a Briton won a seat on the IOC’s executive board.
Australian John Coates, who memorably described Britain last year as a country of “few swimming pools and little soap”, won the other available seat on the executive board.
Jacques Rogge was re-elected unopposed as president of the IOC and will serve his final four years, taking him through the London 2012 Olympics, before stepping down in 2013.
The IOC session in Copenhagen confirmed Rogge’s re-election by 88 votes to one.
Rogge, a 67-year-old heart surgeon who played rugby union for Belgium and was an Olympic yachtsman, was first elected in 2001, succeeding Juan Antonio Samaranch.
He told the IOC members: “You have given me a great honour - we have accomplished a lot together.”