Rowing’s new IOC Athletes’ Commission representative

At the start of December 2025, recently elected International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Kirsty Coventry appointed five new members to the IOC’s Athletes’ Commission – including Saudi Arabian rower Husein Alireza.

Alireza, who competed in the men’s single sculls at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, stood in the Athletes’ Commission elections at Paris 2024, where he finished seventh with four candidates elected.

He said he put a lot of effort into the Paris elections, canvassing every day to achieve as many votes as possible. Although he came up a little short, he was the most successful candidate from the Middle East, which was previously underrepresented on the commission, a factor he thinks helped his appointment. Iranian badminton player Soraya Aghaei Haji Agha has also been appointed as a new commission member.

Alireza joins another 22 athletes on the commission, now representing all continents, 15 summer sports, and five winter sports. A total of 12 members are elected, and a maximum of 11 members can be appointed by the IOC president.

“I would be the first to put my hand up and say that of the five appointed members I’m the least experienced in the Olympic Games,” Alireza said.

However, he said he thought he had a unique and valuable perspective on the athlete experience, as the first-ever Saudi Olympic rower.

“What gave me the confidence to really step forward for the role is the journey I’ve lived. I’ve built a sport and a federation in Saudi in a sport where it didn’t exist at all. I’ve seen every step from the grassroots to governance.”

Alireza said the development of Saudi Rowing had been driven by athletes.

“It was really athlete-led; we were the ones visiting ministers, building the system, and that proved to me that athletes, when they’re empowered, can make a huge difference,” he added. “Being on the IOC Athletes’ Commission feels like just a natural extension of that.”

He said many sports around the world were in a similar position to rowing in Saudi Arabia, and therefore he felt his experience would be useful particularly to those athletes in sports that were less well-supported by their countries.

Alireza is also on the Olympic Council of Asia Athlete Council and has recently got involved with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), joining the agency’s athlete engagement team at the 2025 Asian Youth Games in Bahrain and at the Islamic Solidarity Games, and attending the WADA World Conference on Doping in Sport in Busan, South Korea.

However, he also has his eyes set on competing at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Alireza’s cousin Rakan recently became the first Saudi athlete to qualify for the Winter Olympic Games in cross-country skiing; thanks to his Athletes’ Commission role, Alireza will be in Milano Cortina in February to support Rakan on the snow.

After that, the cousins have plans to train in a pair in a bid to qualify the boat for Los Angeles, and continue putting Saudi rowing on the global map.