Ahrens, who finished third in the trap at Delhi 2010, was chosen by more than 100 representatives from 50 National Olympic Committees at the ANOCA Athletes’ Forum in Algiers, which had unanimously endorsed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) position to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to return to international competition in time for Paris 2024.

Ahrens, who celebrated her 42nd birthday on the day before the election, succeeded Kenya’s double Olympic 10,000 metres silver medallist Paul Tergat, who had been appointed in 2021 as interim ANOCA Athletes’ Commission chair.

"It is an honour to be elected chairperson of the ANOCA Athletes Commission and to have the trust of my fellow athletes to represent them at the highest level of decision-making on the continent," Ahrens said.

"The Athletes Forum was an absolute success.

"Thanks to the leadership of ANOCA, the committed ANOCA staff and our Algerian hosts and, of course, the support of Olympic Solidarity and the Athlete365 team.

"I believe the Forum was the perfect platform to increase the capacities of National Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commissions to further support athletes on the continent."

Ahrens has represented Namibia in two Olympic Games, including at London 2012 where she was her country’s flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony.

It is the latest administration position secured by Ahrens.

She is currently vice-president of the Namibian National Olympic Committee and a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency Athlete Commission.

Cameroon’s volleyball player Victoire Ngon Ntame, who represented her country at Rio 2016, was elected as the vice-chairperson on a Commission which also includes Egypt’s Aya Medany, a silver medallist at the 2008 Modern Pentathlon World Championships.

Ahrens and Ngon Ntame will both serve on the ruling ANOCA Executive Board.

Tergat, President of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya and a member of the IOC, thanked ANOCA President Mustapha Berraf for appointing him as interim chair of the Athletes' Commission.

"I am extremely grateful to ANOCA and President Berraf for the opportunity entrusted to me as the interim chair to organise the first-ever election for the ANOCA Athletes Commission," he said.

"With this newly-elected Commission, I'm confident the voice of African athletes will be represented effectively at the highest level within ANOCA and beyond."