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Four of the 32 candidates will be elected by vote and will become members of the Athletes' Commission and IOC members for a term of eight years. Created by in 1981, the IOC Athletes' Commission is the link between the Olympic athletes and the IOC and serves as the athletes' voice within the Olympic Movement. It includes 19 members, composed of 12 athletes elected for eight years by the athletes competing in the Olympic Games, and seven athletes appointed by the IOC President to ensure a balance between regions, sexes and sports.

One of those athletes is Argentina's three time Olympic athlete; Carlos ESPINOLA. Espinola first competed in the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992 before winning the silver medal in the men's Mistral class in both 1996 and 2000. He will be going for his third medal in Athens in August but this time will be competing in the open multihull event in the Tornado.

Now sailing with Santiago LANGE in the Tornado, Carlos ESPINOLA has already notched up a string of credits. The pair are currently ranked at number one in the ISAF World Sailing Rankings and have been in the top ten in the world for over a year. Since winning the European Championship in 2002, Lange and Espinola have steadily improved their form. They improved on a fifth at the World Championship in 2002 to take the bronze medal at the ISAF World Championship in 2003 before taking the ultimate prize earlier this year and becoming the 2004 Tornado World Champions.

Espinola is a member of the Argentinean National Olympic Committee (NOC) and is Vice President of the Argentinean NOC Athletes' Commission and speaks Spanish and English.

The results of the vote will be announced at 2 pm(local time) on 26 August in the "Amphitheatre" of the international zone of the Olympic Village. The new IOC Athletes' Commission members will be officially introduced during the Closing Ceremony of the Games.