Michelle Yeoh is officially a member of the International Olympic Committee. According to BBC News, the Oscar winner was one of eight members elected at an IOC meeting on Tuesday in Mumbai, India.
The legendary actress is also a former athlete. According to Olympics.com, Yeoh is a former Malaysian junior squash champion. When she was a child, she also ran, swam and did springboard diving.
In an interview with Olympics.com, Yeoh discussed the importance of sports.
“Sports is something that brings people together. And you can see with the Olympics, it crosses borders, it crosses culture, it crosses language. It is a language of love and respect and dignity,” she said.
“With that, we can exercise this goodwill on a much much deeper and meaningful, but so necessary, place. So I hope that they will welcome me into the refugee team and allow me to work together with them and bring this joy and sense of hope to the 110 million refugees around the world.”
Yeoh was one of five individual members added to the IOC, which now has a total of 107 members. IOC President Thomas Bach said the new members were selected for their diverse backgrounds
“What they all have in common is their love of sport and their strong belief in the Olympic values and what the IOC stands for,” Bach said according to BBC News.
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