
Buenos Aires, Argentina, October 5, 2016 - The new Athletes' Commission was presented at the 35th FIVB World Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina today, following its formal launch at the Volleyball House at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on August 15.
The Athletes' Commision is composed as follows:
Gilberto 'Giba' Amauri de Godoy Filho (Giba) - President
Vladimir Grbic - Secretary
Ekaterina Gamova - Member
Julius Brink - Member
Eleonora Lo Bianco - Member
Bartosz Kurek - Member
Kerri Walsh Jennings - Member
Kim Yeon-Kyung - Member
Emanuel Rego - Expert
Former Olympic volleyball champion and three-time World Championship winner Giba from Brazil will lead the Commission as its President and former Serbian Olympic volleyball champion Vladimir Grbi? will be the Commission’s Secretary. They will be joined by a host of other former champions, including London 2012 beach volleyball gold medallist Julius Brink from Germany, three-time Olympic beach volleyball champion Kerri Walsh Jennings from the United States and 2013 beach volleyball World Champion Xue Chen from China.
"We are here to work together and this Commission will be working so hard for volleyball," Giba told the delegates. "Like I said yesterday, we should never give up.
"We have lived volleyball all our lives as players and we know how volleyball is good for the life as w hole, not just as a player. Now we are working for the benefit of volleyball worldwide."
The FIVB is already 100 per cent committed to the IOC Athletes’ Career Programme and the creation of the Athletes’ Commission is seen as an important step in its ongoing support to athletes in line with Recommendation 18 of Olympic Agenda 2020.