Sir Craig (pictured top), 71, a former chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA), said it was "a particular pleasure to be elected to this place in this city".

"I am very, very grateful."

In a flurry of votes as the 124th IOC Session continued in a Park Lane hotel in sunny London, Morocco's Nawal El Moutawakel was also elected vice-president, the first Muslim woman to hold the position.

The gold medallist in the 400 metres hurdles at the Los Angeles Summer Games in 1984 and head of the IOC Evaluation Commission for the 2012 Games in the process that eventually saw London chosen as host city, El Moutawakel said she was "very honoured" and would continue to "promote the Movement with the same passion".

Seven IOC members in all were elected to positions on the ruling Executive Board.

They were: C K Wu from Taiwan, René Fasel from Switzerland, Patrick Hickey from Ireland, Claudia Bokel from Germany, who was also elected this week as the new chair of the IOC's Athletes' Commission, Spain's Juan Antonio Samaranch, son of the former IOC President, Ukraine's Sergey Bubka, still the pole vault world record holder, and Guatemala's Willi Kaltschmitt.

Nawal El Moutawakel being interviewed prior to the Laureus World Sports Awards 2012 

Among comments made by those elected, Ireland's Hickey said he looked forward to "being a team player", while Bokel pledged to "do my very best to represent the athletes the best I can and thus support the Olympic Movement".

Samaranch, whose father was the Movement's towering figure in the last two decades of the 20th century, described his election as "a very important moment in my life".

Five new IOC members were elected: Namibia;s Frankie Fredericks, the former sprinter succeeded by Bokel as Athletes' Commission chair, China's Lingwei Li, Japan's Tsunekazu Takeda, Belgium's Pierre-Olivier Beckers and Djibouti's Aisha Garad Ali.

Sir Craig, former President of the International Badminton Federation, is only the second Briton in the IOC's history to hold the post of vice-president.

He follows in the footsteps of Lord Burghley, Marquess of Exeter, the 1928 Olympic 400m hurdles champion, who stood down from the role in 1966.

The IOC also chose the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur as host of the 2015 IOC Session.

The city was the sole remaining candidate and was elected by a show of hands.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
May 2012: Exclusive - Sir Craig Reedie to stand for election as IOC vice-president