Days after the “wedding of the year” posts finally subsided on social media, the Ambani family made headlines again. But this time at the Paris Olympics 2024, where Nita Ambani was cheering for the country and “felicitating” Indian athletes.

We know that she is the co-owner of the Mumbai Indians cricket team in the Indian Premier League. But, seeing her in action, it almost seemed like the founder of the Reliance Foundation was an official Indian representative at this year’s games. So, what’s going on?

Nita Ambani’s role: Turns out she is an elected member of the International Olympic Committee from India. In fact, this is the second time that she has been “unanimously re-elected” as an IOC member. She was first elected to the IOC in 2016. IOC members have an eight-year term, which means she remains a member till 2032, unless her membership is revoked.

Interestingly, members to IOC—a non-governmental, non-profit association recognized by the Swiss Federal Council—need not all be athletes or associated with a sporting body per se. Academy Award-winning Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh is also an IOC member.

According to the October 2023 Olympic Charter, the IOC can have a maximum of 115 members. Of these, up to 70 are independent members—a maximum of one from each country. This means they don’t have to be linked to any specific function or office of the IOC. The remaining are active athletes and presidents or those holding senior leadership positions in international sports federations (IF), bodies recognized by the IOC, national Olympic committees (NOC) as well as world or continental associations of these committees.

The factsheet from the IOC identifies Nita Ambani as an independent or individual member. Former sportsperson Raja Randhir Singh—a trap and skeet shooter—is the other Indian who has an IOC membership currently. Unlike Ambani, he is an honorary member. Between 2019 and 2022, then Indian Olympic Association president Narinder Batra was also an IOC member. His membership, linked to his IOA position, was revoked after he resigned. There were allegations that he misappropriated public funds. Apart from Nita Ambani, Dorab Tata was the only other corporate representative to become a member of the IOC. However, he was elected as he was heading the country’s Olympic association at the time.

Technically, the category under which Nita Ambani has made it to the Olympics is akin to a voluntary position. Independent individual members represent the IOC and the Olympic movement in their country but are not country delegates within the IOC. Essentially, these members are like ambassadors of the IOC in their respective countries, they don’t represent the country at the IOC.

How are IOC members elected? All members are elected by the IOC “from among such eligible persons as it considers qualified”. That said, the IOC does not randomly pick members—candidatures have to be submitted. And only current IOC members, IFs, associations of IFs, NOCs, world or continental associations of NOCs and other organizations recognized by the IOC can submit candidates’ profiles to the IOC for consideration. All candidates have to submit a complete CV, a motivation letter and three sponsors from within the current IOC membership.

In addition, candidature proposals under the independent individuals category must identify them as nationals of countries that have an NOC.

The IOC members election commission then evaluates these candidates, identifies those who “best fulfil the mission of the IOC” and provides reports and profiles to the IOC executive board. Currently, the commission is headed by Princess Anne of the UK and has Abhinav Bindra on board.

Among the criteria for the election commission to shortlist candidates is identifying “the fields where there are or will be a lack of expertise”. Under the Olympic Agenda 2020 recommendations, the IOC must recruit members who have specialized skills or knowledge—such as cultural, political or business expertise. Also, such members must help strike a gender and geographic balance in terms of IOC representation.

The executive board then submits names of proposed candidatures to the ‘session’—which is the general meeting of IOC members. These members elect new ones from the given list of candidates through a secret ballot.

Remember that while Ambani’s status is that of a volunteer member, her membership to the IOC confers upon her the power to vote in the ‘session’ where decisions on election and expulsion of members, amendment to the Olympic Charter and decisions on who gets to host the Olympic Games are taken.

Headlines across reports have been saying that Ambani is championing the Indian cause at the Olympics and will play a role in pushing India’s bid to host the games. And while she may have proposed holding the 142nd session of the IOC in Mumbai, it’s worthwhile to mention here that IOC members cannot vote on a decision to award their home country the games.

Cover image from Twitter/@RIL_Updates