Sebastian Coe and Marisol Casado were elected to the ASOIF Council today ©ASOIF

Sebastian Coe and Marisol Casado were elected to the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) Council during the organisation's General Assembly here today.

Coe and Casado, Presidents of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and International Triathlon Union (ITU) respectively, secured a place on the ASOIF Council by acclamation at the meeting, held during the SportAccord Convention.

The Spaniard, the only current female head of a Summer Olympic International Federation, will complete the final two years of compatriot Leandro Negre's term.

Negre is relinquishing his spot on the Council as he is no longer President of the International Hockey Federation.

"I feel extremely proud to be part of he ASOIF Council," Casado said. 

"I will serve with dedication, commitment, transparency and loyalty to all Summer Olympic International Sport Federations, as I have always done in the ITU."

Coe steps in for IAAF vice-president Sergey Bubka, the Ukrainian who he beat in the race for the IAAF Presidency in November 2015, as he has served the maximum of two four-year terms.

World Archery President Uğur Erdener and C K Wu, the head of the International Boxing Association, who are both members of the International Executive Board, were re-elected for fresh four-year stints on the Council.

Erdener has been a member since 2014, while Wu, the vice-president, was elected in 2013.

"These are four very important people," ASOIF President Francesco Ricci Bitti said.

"We are delighted to have Marisol, the only female President of an Olympic International Federation (IF), on board.

"I do not need to say much about Seb as everyone knows about him and his career."

The ASOIF General Assembly was held during the SportAccord Convention ©ASOIF
The ASOIF General Assembly was held during the SportAccord Convention ©ASOIF

The elections were one of the main items on the agenda, with presentations from the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic candidate cities the focal point of the session.

Governance also featured prominently as ASOIF presented a review of all 28 member federations, conducted between November 2016 and March 2017.

The report, spearheaded by the ASOIF's Governance Taskforce, showed there was "significant room for improvement" within the organisation's membership.

"The report shows evidence of considerable variation among the 28 IFs, reveals a variety of good practice and recent reforms, but also significant room for improvement," an ASOIF statement read. 

"Next steps will be to compile best practice examples and meet each IF to review individually its governance assessment.

"A workshop will be held in autumn 2017 for IF governance personnel during which the task will review IF feedback in order to develop the questionnaire and assessment process."

Governing bodies representing the five new sports on the Tokyo 2020 programme were confirmed as associate members of ASOIF.

The World Baseball Softball Confederation, the International Federation of Sport Climbing, the World Karate Federation, the International Surfing Association and the International Roller Sports Federation were given the green light to become associate members.

Inclusion within ASOIF allows the sports to play a role in coordinating preparations for Tokyo 2020.

"The first review presented today is just a starting point," added Ricci Bitti. 

"Now that we have a better understanding of the issues and where they are, it will be easier to initiate progress where it is needed. 

"This is something we will begin working on closely with our members as of tomorrow. 

“It is encouraging to see that change and progress are underway, with some important reforms now being adopted rapidly.”