The two received the most votes among 16 candidates when 2,307 athletes voted in the election, a turnout of 80.5%. Fourcade obtained 971 votes, Hansdotter 694.

The French biathlete and the Swedish mountaineer have lined up since winning Olympic gold in Pyeongchang, but they were still eligible. Both have now been IOC members for eight years.

Fourcade fought numerous duels with Norwegian biathletes en route to five Olympic gold medals, 13 World Cup gold medals and seven overall World Cup victories. He now replaces Ole Einar Bjørndalen as an IOC member.

Bjørndalen and Canadian ice hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser ended their eight years at the IOC on Sunday.

– Voted for him

Norwegian biathlete Johannes Thingnes Bø, who had a fine Beijing Olympics with three golds and a bronze, is happy Fourcade is now joining the IOC and admits he has helped the Frenchman along the way.

– It’s great to have him in the IOC. He’s a guy with good sportsmanship. He has great ideas about sport, true sport and the needs of athletes. It’s a great day for him, but also for Olympic sports in general. He will do his best for the athletes in the years to come, Thingnes Bø told a press conference at the Olympic Village on Thursday.

– I must admit that I voted for him, continued the 28-year-old player.

Always available

Fourcade promised that he would not only speak on behalf of IOC practitioners, but would always be available for their input.

– I want all athletes to know that I want to give them a voice on the executive board. We met in the Olympic villages, and they must know they can always reach me, he said according to the website. Ingames.

Hansdotter said she was honored to be elected.

– I look forward to working hard for the athletes, she said.

Officially, they will be integrated into the IOC during the season on Saturday.

Many candidates

The most famous of the other candidates in the election were Dutch skating star Ireen Wüst, Slovenian ski jumper Jernej Damjan and Czech snowboarder Eva Samkova.

The other candidates were cross-country skiers Jacqueline Mourão (Brazil), Maria Ntanou (Greece) and Mathilde Amivi Petitjean (Togo), bobsledders Seyi Smith (Canada), Seun Adigun (Nigeria) and Adam Edelman (Israel), aerialists Shiva Keshavan (India), Raluca Stramaturaru (Romania) and Lien Te-an (Taiwan), as well as ice hockey player Florence Schelling (Switzerland) and skeleton rider Nathan Ikon Crumpton (American Samoa).