CRAIG Reedie, the 53-year-old chairman of the British Olympic

Association, has been appointed to the International Olympic Committee,

it was confirmed yesterday in Paris.

Reedie, from Bridge of Weir, near Paisley, is only the sixteenth UK

appointee, and the first Scot, to hold one of the most powerful posts in

world sport. The position is guaranteed until after his seventy-fifth

birthday.

A former chairman of the International Badminton Federation, he has

been a member of the BOA since 1988 and, as its chairman since 1992,

played a key role in the bid to bring the millenium Games to Manchester,

which just missed out.

Reedie was one of 12 new IOC delegates named yesterday -- almost all

of them from competitive or sport administration backgrounds, signifying

a change from the criticised aristocratic past appointees.

The new dozen -- all of them male -- include the 1972 double Olympic

sprint champion, Valeriy Borzov of the Ukraine, Jim Easton, the American

president of the International Archery Federation, and Bob Hassan of

Indonesia, the entrepreneur who annually offers $500,000 for a

successful attack on the world 10,000m road race record in his homeland.

The other IOC delegate in Britain is the Princess Royal. Only

countries which have staged an Olympic Games are entitled to two

delegates.