MANILA, Philippines?Sydney Olympians Toni Leviste and Benjie Tolentino are the choice picks in the athletes commission, which will have two seats in the Philippine Olympic Committee general assembly.

Triathlon chief Tom Carrasco said Leviste of equestrian and rowing?s Tolentino will be nominated to the commission by the Philippine Olympians Association (POA), an elite group of athletes composed of Olympians who donned the national colors in the past three Games.

?Among our past Olympians, Toni and Benjie know the true concept of the Olympic movement,? said Carrasco.

The representatives in the athletes commission are selected from a pool of 40 former Olympians.

Complying with an International Olympic Committee guideline issued last January, the POC has decided to include two former Olympians in the general assembly.

Established by the IOC in 1981, the Athletes? Commission is the link between active athletes and the IOC.

It is composed of active and retired athletes, holds at least one meeting each year and meets regularly with the IOC Executive Board, to which it issues recommendations to ensure that the needs of the athletes are met.

?Everybody has to move in the same direction with the IOC,? said POC president Jose ?Peping? Cojuangco Jr., stressing that the IOC directive involves synchronizing the constitution and by-laws of the national sports associations (NSAs) with the POC.

Carrasco said the creation of the athletes commission was supposed to be tackled in the last POC general assembly but was deferred for a pressing matter.

Carrasco said the executive council, however, did not grant Leviste and Tolentino voting powers.