Ugandan Nakaayi eyes place on Athletes' Commission

ATHLETICS

Ugandan athlete Halimah Nakaayi - an 800m specialist - is among 12 athletes looking to fill six spots on the Athletes' Commission in next month's elections.

The elections will take place between July 15-20 during the World Athletics Championships in the US state of Oregon.

The championships will get under way on July 15 and end on July 24 - a period of 10 days - and all athletes accredited for Oregon22 will have the right to vote in the upcoming elections.

Nakaayi, the reigning 800m world champion, has thrown her hat into the ring, driven by a desire to "defend" the rights of athletes and inspire young, aspiring athletes.

"I feel the responsibility to stand up for the needs of the athletes and to defend their rights, especially for the female athletes of Africa and other countries at large," reads her candidate information form.

The 27-year-old middle distance runner says athletics is a "part of my life" and that she wants to "motivate the young generation to start the sport at an early age".

"It is my desire to encourage children and young people to get more active by getting involved in physical skills to gain more confidence. 

"We need to make sure that as athletes in the world, we become more united and more co-operative through communicating with each other," says Nakaayi.

The official campaign period will start on July 1 to allow candidates to promote their individual campaigns.

The other candidates are:

- Andrea Paola Bonilla (Ecuador)
- Lisanne de Witte (The Netherlands)
- Lauma Griva (Latvia)
- Ramil Guliyev (Turkey)
- Matthew Hughes (Canada)
- Ivet Lalova-Collio (Bulgaria)
-  Airine Palsyte (Lithuania)
- Anna Ryzhykova (Ukraine)
- Lea Sprunger (Switzerland)
- Alessia Trost (Italy)
- Toshikazu Yamanishi (Japan)

Oregon is set to host the 2022 World Athletics Championships

'Use voice and vote'

Getting athletes involved in decision-making within World Athletics structures arose from the governance and integrity reforms approved in December 2016.

The last Athletes’ Commission elections happened in Doha, Qatar in 2019.

"For the first time in history, two Athletes’ Commission members have held voting seats on the World Athletics Council, giving more weight to the athlete’s voice at the leadership level of our sport,” Athletes’ Commission chair Renaud Lavillenie is quoted as having said.

He said the six athletes who will be elected next month "will pay a great contribution to the future of athletics, always with the athlete community’s best interests at heart".

“I wish all the candidates good luck and would like to encourage all athletes competing at the World Athletics Championships next month to use their voice and vote for those who they think will best represent them on the Athletes’ Commission," added Lavillenie.

Halimah Nakaayi is the reigning 800m world champion

A busy 2022 for Nakaayi

Meanwhile, it has been a very active first half of 2022 for Nakaayi, who now specialises in the 800m, having tried out the 400m in the earlier stages of her athletics career.

She is the current Ugandan record holder in the 800m both outdoors (1:58.03) and indoors (1:58.58), and also for the 1,000 metres (2:32.12).

Nakaayi has competed in four 800m events of the World Indoor Tour this year, applying improvements to her Ugandan indoor record as many as three times.

She finished first both in Karlsruhe (Germany) and Val-de-Reuil (France), and second in the Lievin (France) and Torun (Poland) meetings. It is in Lievin that she set a new national indoor record.

In March, Nakaayi took bronze at the World Indoor Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia in a time of 2:00.66.

Last week, at the Diamond League Bislett Games in Oslo, she finished fourth (1:58.68).