PR no. 23 - Bob Elphinston elected new FIBA President

TOKYO (FIBA World Congress) - Bob Elphinston has been elected new FIBA President for the 2006 - 2010 term of office, the International Basketball Federation has announced today. The election took place during the FIBA World Congress in the Tokyo Prince Hotel Park Tower, where the assembly of the 212 national federations of FIBA took place. A total of 104 national federations were present at the Congress.

The 64-year old native of Lithgow, Australia, was excited about this new challenge: "I am enormously proud to be elected as President of FIBA and to be only the third Australian ever to be President of an International Olympic Sports Federation."

"Basketball is at an exciting level as the second most played team sport in the world today behind football and my role as President gives me the chance to directly assist a great sport grow even more. We are currently experiencing our best ever FIBA World Championship here in Japan, with sell-out crowds, television coverage in some 155 countries and strong performances from all 5 continents of the world," Elphinston said.

Elphinston also sees a splendid future for the sport: "FIBA looks forward to an exciting Olympic Games in Beijing 2008, increased commercial opportunities and player development with the emphasis of further developing strong leagues in all 213 member federations."

"I am grateful to the 21 member federations of FIBA Oceania and Basketball Australia for supporting my election as FIBA President", added Elphinston, who was President of FIBA Oceania for the past four years.

"We look forward to the cooperation with Bob Elphinston", said FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann. "We are very glad to have a President with such a high reputation in the world of sports. We will certainly profit from his experience and expertise. At the same time I would like to thank our outgoing President Carl Men Ky Ching for his outstanding contribution to the growth of basketball in the past 4 years."

Bob Elphinston is recognised as one of the most respected sports administrators in the world, with a long involvement in Basketball since 1961 and international sport since 1991.

Bob was one of the founding directors of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) and managed the Australian Men's basketball team at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games. He has visited more than 35 countries with teams from Australia. He was the founding President of the Australian Basketball Coaches Association.

In 1991, Bob was appointed General Manager for the Sydney Olympics 2000 Bid Company, reporting directly to Chief Executive Rod McGeoch. His work was ultimately rewarded in 1993 when Sydney won the right to host the 2000 Olympic Games.

As SOCOG's General Manager- Sport, Bob was directly responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the 28 sports at the Olympic Games including the sports competition, the sports schedule, sport services, sport presentation, sport policy and operations, medical services, doping control, IOC relations and protocol, National Olympic Committees services and language services.

During his 10 years of Olympic involvement, Bob has developed a close working relationship with FIBA. In recognition of his significant contribution in bidding for and staging the "best Games ever", the IOC appointed him to the IOC Sports Program Commission and the IOC Evaluation Commission for the selection of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games.

In addition, due to his vast experience, he is Sports Consultant to the Organizing Committees of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games (BOCOG) in Beijing, P.R. of China and the London Olympic Games 2012 (LOCOG) and also consults the International Olympic Committee.

In October 2000, he was awarded the Olympic Order by the President of the IOC and has been honoured in Australia with an Order of Australia in Medal, together with life membership of Basketball Australia and Australia's Sport Administrator of the year.

Central Board 2006 - 2010

The World Congress has also ratified the composition of the FIBA Central Board for the 2006 - 2010 term of office. The Central Board is the highest executive body of FIBA and meets twice a year. The Central Board will be comprised as follows:

Mr Robert Elphinston, AUS, President
Mr George Vassilakopoulos, GRE, FIBA Europe, Vice-President
Mr Patrick Baumann, SUI, Secretary General
Mr Manfred Ströher, GER, Treasurer
Mr Alain Ekra, CIV, FIBA Africa, Member
Mr Alphonse Bilé, CIV, FIBA Africa, Member
Ms Maiga Salamatou, MLI, FIBA Africa, Member
Mr Julio Subero, DOM, FIBA Americas, Member
Mr Jenaro Marchand, PUR, FIBA Americas, Member
Mr Horacio Muratore, ARG, FIBA Americas, Member
Ms Valerie Ackerman, USA, FIBA Americas, Member
Mr Zaiqing Yu, CHN, FIBA Asia, Member
Sheik Fahad Al-Ahmad Alsabah Talal, KUW, FIBA Asia, Member
Ms Mabel Mun Wai Ching, HKG, FIBA Asia, Member
Mr Yvan Mainini, FRA, FIBA Europe, Member
Mr Jose Luis Saez Regalado, ESP, FIBA Europe, Member
Ms Marion Grethen, LUX, FIBA Europe, Member
Ms Barbara Wheadon, NZL, FIBA Oceania, Member
Mr Steve Smith, AUS, FIBA Oceania, Member
Mr William Kelderman, PLW, FIBA Oceania, Member

About FIBA

FIBA, the world governing body for basketball, is an independent association formed by 212 National Federations of basketball throughout the world. It is recognised as the sole competent authority in basketball by the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.). The main events are the FIBA World Championships for Men and Women held every four years and the various FIBA Zone Continental events held every two years.

The 2006 FIBA World Championships are played in Japan (Men) from 19th August until 3rd September and in Brazil (Women) from 12th - 23rd September.