By Benjamin Wickham
Algiers, March 18 — Gaby Ahrens, the bronze medallist in the trap shooting event at the Commonwealth Games 2010, has been elected as the chairperson of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) Athletes’ Commission. She is the first to hold this position after being elected by over 100 representatives from 50 National Olympic Committees at the ANOCA Athletes’ Forum in Algiers. Ahrens succeeded Kenya’s Paul Tergat, who was appointed as the interim chair of the ANOCA Athletes’ Commission in 2021.
During the ANOCA Athletes’ Forum, Ahrens was chosen by the athletes to represent them at the highest level of decision-making on the continent. She stated that she considers it an honour to have the trust of her fellow athletes to represent them. Ahrens, who has represented Namibia in two Olympic Games, is currently the vice president of the Namibian National Olympic Committee and a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency Athlete Commission.
Cameroon’s volleyball player, Victoire Ngon Ntame, was elected as the vice-chairperson on the Commission, which also includes Egypt’s Aya Medany, a silver medallist at the 2008 Modern Pentathlon World Championships. Ahrens and Ngon Ntame will both serve on the ANOCA Executive Board.
Ahrens believes that the ANOCA Athletes’ Forum was the perfect platform to increase the capacities of National Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commissions to further support athletes on the continent. The forum unanimously endorsed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) position to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to return to international competition in time for Paris 2024.
Tergat thanked ANOCA President Mustapha Berraf for appointing him as the interim chair of the Athletes’ Commission and expressed confidence that the newly-elected Commission would represent the voice of African athletes effectively at the highest level within ANOCA and beyond. – Namibia Daily News
