MUMBAI (AFP) – Malaysia’s Oscar-winning actor Michelle Yeoh was voted onto the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday.
The first Asian woman to win an Academy Award — when she scooped best actress for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” earlier this year — was elected by 67 votes to nine, with one abstention.
She was one of eight new members voted in on the final day of the 141st IOC session in Mumbai, India.
When the result was announced, Yeoh stood up and placed her hand on her heart.
She and the other newly elected members then took the Olympic oath.
The 61-year-old, who has been accompanied in Mumbai by her husband Jean Todt, the former president of the motorsport governing body the FIA, then received an IOC member medal from Bach.
Before the vote, Britain’s Princess Anne, the chair of the IOC’s member election committee, introduced Yeoh as “a Malaysia junior squash champion”.
“Sadly, her other different skills took her away from her sporting life but a very fulfilled career and a lot of interest in sport throughout that.”
Yeoh’s Hollywood breakthrough came when she was cast in 1997’s Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies” opposite Pierce Brosnan, and she made her reputation in martial arts movies including “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”.
