Double Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee has been appointed, along with Allyson Felix, Oluseyi Smith and Masomah Ali Zada, to the International Olympic Committee's Athletes’ Commission represent the athlete voice within the Olympic Movement.

Brownlee was appointed by IOC President Thomas Bach, in consultation with IOC AC Chair Emma Terho, and in accordance with IOC AC regulations, which are aimed at ensuring a balance between genders, regions and sports within the Commission. They can each serve a term of up to eight years. With these additions, the IOC AC will consist of 14 women and 9 men.

The Brit competed for Great Britain in triathlon at three editions of the Olympic Games, winning gold medals at both London 2012 and Rio 2016. He has since served as a member of the Athletes’ Commission of the European Olympic Committees and on the Athlete Advisory Committee of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

“It’s an honour to be appointed to the IOC Athletes’ Commission. I am a product of the Olympic movement; watching the first ever Olympic Triathlon in Sydney inspired me to dream and work hard towards those dreams. It will be a privilege to represent the athlete’s of the Olympic movement and play a small part in helping to realise the dream’s of more young people,” said Alistair after his appointment.

“Athletes are at the very heart of the Olympic Movement, and it is therefore essential that their voices are heard within the IOC,” said IOC President Bach. “Those voices must be as diverse as possible. The appointment of these four new members of the Athletes’ Commission complements the outstanding skills and experience of the Commission and ensures we have great representation across different sports and regions of the world. We look forward to working with each of them in the years ahead as they play a vital role in representing the interests of the global athlete community.”

“We are absolutely delighted to have the voice of one of our most successful and charismatic athletes, Alistair Brownlee, joining the Athletes’ Commission. His voice, and the voice of all triathletes around the world, will be taken even more into consideration, and is again the proof that our sport has a strong presence in the Olympic movement,” said World Triathlon President, Marisol Casado, an IOC member herself, as well as a member of six IOC Commissions. "Our most sincere congratulations, from myself and on behalf of all the Triathlon Family, to Alistair for this excellent achievement. I'm sure his commitment with the Movement will be extraordinary and will help us all to continue growing," she said. 

IOC AC Chair Emma Terho welcomed the four Olympians to the Commission, saying: “Together with my fellow Commission members, we are very much looking forward to working together with Allyson, Alistair, Oluseyi and Masomah. They will bring invaluable expertise and input to the Commission from athletes in their sports and regions, ensuring that we represent the voice of athletes around the world.”

The four Olympians will serve in the Commission alongside newly elected members Martin Fourcade (FRA) and Frida Hansdotter (SWE). These two athletes were elected by their peers during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, and also became IOC Members.