The International Archery Federation (FITA) Monday officially appointed Australian business and sports manager, Terry Reilly as its new director. Reilly will succeed Tom Dielen of Belgium, who is going to work as director of sport liaison at the European regional office of the World Anti-Doping Agency in Lausanne.

Terry Reilly will leave his position as CEO of Archery Australia and move to the FITA office in Lausanne, Switzerland, in the beginning of June. The FITA Council unanimously confirmed the appointment of Terry Reilly

‘I am pleased to be able to join the ‘FITA Team’ in a different capacity under our most capable leaders, secretary general Giuseppe Cinnirella and president Jim Easton. As someone who has ‘archery blood in his veins’, I am looking forward to the challenge of this position that has been so well managed by Tom and his team,’ commented Terry Reilly Monday from his home in Gordon, New South Wales.

The 54-year old Australian has been deeply involved in archery since he purchased a bow from a friend and started shooting in his back yard at the age of 13. He is a four time national champion and represented Australia at the Olympic Games in Munich (finished 15th) in 1972 and the Games in Montreal 1976. He has also taken part in four world championships with a 9th place as best result. Later, he took up coaching.

Terry Reilly is a member of the FITA council since 2001 and is the archery technical delegate for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

‘Terry has proven skills as event and competition manager at all levels and I am honored to have him as my successor. He is an Olympian, coach and FITA official and he will bring a lot of experience to FITA. His first priority will be to improve his French so we can understand this ‘Aussie,’ declared Tom Dielen.

Terry Reilly holds a masters degree in Business Administration and a bachelor degree of Applied Science (computing) from the University of Adelaide.

Reilly is originally from Adelaide but moved to Sydney in 1997 to work with SOCOG as venue and competition manager for archery at the Sydney Olympic Games. Prior to his contract with SOCOG and Archery Australia, his commercial career was focused on information technology in Adelaide as a consultant and business team manager in the manufacturing and financial sectors. He has also worked for some international computer firms in the marketing and management areas.

For more information please contact:

FITA press officer Lena Baden at +41 21 614 3050 or by email lbaden@archery.org