Hickey, who was unopposed, will be serving his third term since first being elected in 2006 and will now remain in charge to oversee the inaugural European Games in Baku in 2015, an event he has personally pioneered.

"I am delighted to secure my third term as President of the European Olympic Committees with such powerful support from my colleagues across Europe's National Olympic Committees," said Hickey.

"The next part of my Presidency will be particularly exciting as we move towards the inaugural European Games in 2015."

Slovenia's Janez Kocijancic was also elected unopposed as the new vice-president, taking over from Russia's Alexandr Kozlovsky, who is stepping down from the role after eight years in the role but who was voted to remain as part of the Executive Committee. 

Italy's Raffaele Pagnozzi and Cyprus' Kikis Lazarides were both also re-elected to the positions of secretary general and treasurer respectively having also been unopposed.

But the Executive Committee will have a fresh look to it as six new members were elected, including Sebastian Coe, former head of London 2012 and now chairman of the British Olympic Association, and Hasan Arat, leader of Istanbul's unsuccessful bid to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. 

Besides Coe and Arat, other new members elected to the Executive Committee were Slovakia's Frantisek Chmelar, Poland's Adrzej Krasnicki, Denmark's Niels Nygaard and Germany's Michael Vesper. 

They joined Spain's Alejandro Blanco, Greece's Spyros Capralos, Croatia's Zlatko Matesa , Luxembourg's Marc Theisen and Israel's Efraim Zinger, who were all re-elected.

The newcomers replaced several members who were standing down, including Romania's newly-elected International Olympic Committee member Octavian Morariu and Colin Moynihan, who Coe had replaced as head of the BOA last year.  

"I am deeply honoured to have been elected to the EOC's Executive Committee by my colleagues and friends at Europe's National Olympic Committees," said Coe.

"This is an important time for the continued development of sport in Europe, with an unprecedented series of opportunities and challenges before us.

"I look forward to working closely with my colleagues in the EOC to support the best interests of Olympic sport, our European National Olympic Committees, and most importantly, our athletes."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
September 2013: Hickey unopposed in EOC Presidential election as Coe seeks place on Executive Committee