Former Olympic hurdles champion Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco and Craig Reedie of Britain have been elected vice presidents of the International Olympic Committee at the 124th IOC session here Thursday.

El Moutawakel received 81 votes in favor and 10 against. Reedie received 85 in favor, and four against. Both are currently members of the IOC executive board.

El Moutawakel was the first woman from a Muslim nation to win an Olympic medal when she took gold in the 400-meter hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

She will take the spot currently held by Yu Zaiqing of China, whose term on the board expires at the end of the London Games.

Reedie, a former head of the international badminton federation, has been on the IOC board since 2009 and he would replace Italy's Mario Pescante, who resigned after Rome pulled out of bidding for the 2020 Games.

U.S. member Anita DeFrantz and Lebanon's Tony Khoury withdrew as candidates for the executive board at the last minute because they realized their chances were slim.

"I'm getting closer to the center of the first row," DeFrantz said. "I still have a few years left to serve the Olympic movement. I withdraw from the election now."

Eleven years after his father stepped down, Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. was elevated to the executive body. After a 45-45 tie vote with Ukrainian pole vault great Sergei Bubka, the Spaniard won 50-40 in a runoff.

Bubka then ran for another seat, defeating Willy Kaltschmitt of Guatemala 51-43. Kaltschmitt returned to win the final seat, beating Nat Indrapana of Thailand 60-36.

Wu Ching-Kuo, the president of the international amateur boxing association, was voted onto the board as representative of the summer sports federations with 88 in favor and six against.

Swiss member Rene Fasel, head of the international ice hockey federation, was re-elected to the board as head of the winter sports with 76 in favor and 12 against.

The IOC also elected five new members: former Namibian sprinter Frank Fredericks, who had previously served as an athlete representative on the executive board; Japanese Olympic Committee president Tsunekazu Takeda; former badminton player Li Lingwei of China; Belgian Olympic Committee head Pierre-Olivier Beckers; and Aisha Garad Ali, head of the Olympic body in Djibouti.

"I feel very honored to be elected as an IOC member," said Li Lingwei, who won 13 world titles during her career in the 1980s and is currently serving on the IOC's Olympic Program commission.

"As a newcomer, I need to learn from other IOC members and I will work hard to promote the Olympic Movement all my life," added the 48-year-old.

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