Melbourne’s Dean Gosper is the latest Australian to win a key position in global sport.

Gosper, son of International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Kevan Gosper, has been elected to the International Ski Federation (FIS) Council which controls skiing and snowboarding worldwide.

Gosper is one of eight new members elected for a two year period in the vote which took place at the FIS Congress in Antalya, Turkey, at the weekend.

He is the President of Ski and Snowboard Australia and Deputy Chairman of the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWI).

Geoff Henke is the only other Australian to hold such an important post on FIS. He was a member of the Council for 14 years before his retirement in 2008.

FIS is an enormous organisation with 110 member countries. It holds 6000 ski and snowboard competitions each year.

In an important development at the weekend FIS decided to resubmit proposals to the IOC for the introduction of Women’s Ski Jumping and Freestyle Halfpipe (Skiing).

There is a strong push to include these sports on the program for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

AOC