Rita Subowo, the Director General of the Bali Asian Beach Games Committee (BABGOC) was elected as a new member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Saturday July 7th, 2007. This is a historic event, since she is the first woman elected President of the National Olympic Committee (KONI) in Indonesia.

The IOC now has a total of 115 members, including 16 women and 11 royals. The other new members elected during the IOC 119th Session in Guatemala are Princess Haya of the United Arab Emirates, Andres Botero of Colombia and Patrick Baumann of Switzerland.

Rita was one of two women who became the new members of the IOC, which now has a total membership of 115, including 16 women and 11 royals.

“Being elected as an IOC member is the pride of all Indonesians. To me, it is the recognition of Indonesians by the world’s highest sport governing body. I truly believe that by being a member of IOC, I can do more for the advancement of sport in the country, as well as for the international sport community”, explains Rita at the KONI headquarters in Jakarta, where she was greeted by more than a hundred people from various sport federations as well as the previous KONI President, Agum Gumelar and many Indonesian sport legends.

“The IOC should lead by example, and it is true that we don’t have enough women, absolutely true,” Jacques Rogge, IOC President told a news conference at the end of the International Olympic Committee’s annual assembly. The IOC has made quicker progress in promoting women’s sports as a whole. Forty-five percent of the athletes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics are expected to be women. (yl).

(source: http://www.bali2008.com/139.html)

BABGOC (Jakarta) – Indonesia’s top paraglider Bima Putra secured himself a seat in the top 70 in the world when he performed at the Paragliding World Championship held on February 24th – March 9th 2007 in Australia.

Despite the promising result, Bima wasn’t able to repeat his success from two years earlier at the same event, when he ranks 48th in the world. This was due to the increasingly competitive game, with the toughest rivals coming from America and Europe. But the resulting rank did not upset Bima and the management of Indonesian Paragliding. As admitted in a rather paradoxical manner by Djoko Pisowarno, the head of the Indonesian Paragliding, in the middle of the Indonesian national team preparation for the Asian Beach Games 2008 in Bali, “I’m not going to lie. We were a little disappointed, but if we evaluate Bima’s performance overall then it’s actually quite an achievement.”

Bima is the only Indonesian paraglider to be in the top 100 in the world, an achievement that hasn’t been equalled by any other Indonesian athlete, who mostly ranks in the top 120. “Up until now only Bima who can make it to the top 100, and to me, that’s quite impressive,” said Djoko beamingly. (sl).

(source: http://www.bali2008.com/130.html)