Olympic Gold medalist and Volvo Ocean Race winner up for WS Board

by Sail-World.com on 25 Sep 2016 Torben Grael (BRA) is amongst the 15 nominations for one of seven places on the Board of Directors of World Sailing in November.

The five times Olympic medalist, Volvo Ocean Race winner and several times America's Cup competitor will bring a much needed sailing edge to the Board of World Sailing if he can navigate the politics of the controlling body of the sport.

Grael (56) was also the Sailing Director for Brazil at the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Regatta. His daughter Martine Grael was a Gold medalist at the event winning the inaugural 49erFX event in the most thrilling race of the regatta.

He is also believed to be instrumental behind the scenes in achieving the clean up of Guanabara Bay for the 2016 Olympics, where officials had failed for several years.

World Sailing's President of Honour, HM King Constantine and the Election Committee have announced details of the candidates eligible for election as President and Vice-President to its Board of Directors.

Three Presidential candidates and 15 Vice-Presidential candidates have received the necessary nomination support from at least five MNA's (Member National Authorities). MNA's can support multiple Vice Presidential candidates.

The President and seven Vice-Presidents, two of which must be from each gender, will be elected at World Sailing's General Assembly in Barcelona, Spain on Sunday 13 November 2016.

The term of office begins at the close of the General Assembly, in November, at which the Board of Directors are elected for a period of four years.

The General Assembly will be the conclusion of World Sailing's Annual Conference and up to 700 delegates are expected to attend from 4-13 November 2016 at the Hotel Renaissance Barcelona Fira.

The candidates eligible for election at the 2016 General Assembly are:

Presidential Candidates

• Kim Andersen (DEN)
• Carlo Croce (ITA)
• Paul Henderson (CAN)

Vice-Presidential Candidates

• Alain Alcindor (SEY)
• Chris Atkins (GBR)
• Tomasz Chamera (POL)
• Jean-Pierre Champion (FRA)
• Jan Dawson (NZL)
• Torben Grael (BRA)
• Gary Jobson (USA)
• Stanislav Kassarov (BUL)
• Quanhai Li (CHN)
• W Scott Perry (URU)
• Tony Philp (FIJ)
• Ana Sanchez (ESP)
• Malav Shroff (IND)
• Nadine Stegenwalner (GER)
• David Tillett (AUS)

Full details of the eligible candidates, including biographies of each candidate, stated goals and nominating MNAs, are available to view here.

The Election of World Sailing Board of Directors is covered in Articles 73-76 of the World Sailing Constitution.

The voting system to elect the World Sailing Board of Directors is detailed in World Sailing Regulation 4.