IOC, ASOIF Back SportAccord Vision; IFs Praise for Rio 2016 -- On the Scene

(ATR) Summer Olympic federations chief Francesco Ricci Bitti says he is happy "difficult months" are behind the Olympic Movement in the wake of Marius Vizer’s bitter attack on the IOC.

TheThe International Judo Federation president quit as president of the umbrella association for Olympic and non-Olympic federations following the backlash from IFs to his outburst at the April SportAccord Convention in Sochi.

Ski federation chief Gian-Franco Kasper took over the embattled organization in June and is chairing SportAccord until a new president is elected in November. The ASOIF president was appointed to serve as president of the annual convention.

Speaking at a joint meeting of the IOC and ASOIF in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, Ricci Bitti spoke of his relief that the Vizer fallout was over and of the vision for SportAccord.

Vizer was not present. Around the Rings is told that the IJF boss had informed the IOC he was unable to attend due to other commitments.

"We had very difficult months and I am very happy they are over and we can very soon come back to our routine activities," the International Tennis Federation president told the assembled leaders of the 28 summer Olympic IFs.

The vision is now to bring the confusingly-named SportAccord and SportAccord Convention into one organization.Ricci Bitti said it was not easy due to the complexities of legal and corporate law in Switzerland.But a new organization may emerge – perhaps with a new name – at the extraordinary general assembly that will likely take place in conjunction with November’s IF Forum.

Ricci Bitti said there was no change to the convention staff, with nine employees involved in organizing the next event in spring 2016. But the 25 who had staffed SportAccord had been cut to eight people. Director general Vlad Marinescu is one of those to have left the organization.

"The vision is to have a new organization useful to the work of all IFs, not just winter and summer. We need a table for common interests, very practical and service-oriented," he said, adding that the new set-up aimed to avoid the costly "duplication" of services of the past under Vizer’s leadership.

Ricci Bitti confirmed there would be a SportAccord Convention in the spring: "We have many people interested so we are not worried, we aim for the same date because it’s the best for all the sports calendar."

In his opening remarks, IOC president Thomas Bach joked that he had received a better reception from the assembled Olympic federations than when he last met them in April when he was hit with Vizer’s volley of criticism.Thanking Ricci Bitti and Kasper for "addressing the situation" since Vizer’s diatribe, he said: "We are happy to learn there is a clear vision for positioning of the organization and having one organization… makes it easier for everybody to address all the relevant issues."

Referring to the duplication of services offered under Vizer’s leadership, he added: "It makes no sensethat we are throwing the money out of the window by doing the same things in different organizations and not even knowing what the other one is doing."

"And it makes no sense to address issues with federations or a federation with someone trying to get in between us. This makes things only more complicated, time-consuming and, in the end, more expensive," Bach said.

Limiting Multisport Games

Both Ricci Bitti and Bach voiced concerns about adding any more multisport games to an already crowded sports calendar. While the World Beach Games is going ahead, it means events planned under Vizer’s presidency will be unlikely to get off the ground, such as the World Urban Games.

Ricci Bitti said the new-look federations association would not endorse endorse multisport games but didn’t rule out helping organize "specialized games" if they were requested. "We are not against that but we don’t look for it. We should coordinate with the IOC which kind of disciplines… to helpnew sports growing instead of clashing and duplicating."

Bach made the IOC position abundantly clear on multisport initiatives: "We will not encourage from our side."

Issues to consider for the IOC if some IFs expressed a desire to stage such Games: coordination with the sports calendar to avoid any impact on established sporting events; a transparent and fair financial model of financing and "not an approach that someone is going to a city and trying to sell something"; protecting the uniqueness of the Olympics with any such games featuring non-Olympic disciplines.

Rio 2016 Update

IOC co-com chief Nawal El Moutawakel reported to the IFs, emphasizing that 2016 Games organizers had come long way since the IOC-ASOIF crisis meeting in Belek last year."The clock is ticking but we are closely following [preparations] on a daily basis that everything is under control," she said.

Ricci Bitti said the Belek summit, at which 18 of 28 federations had expressed grave concerns about Rio’s progress, had sent a strong message to the organizing committee: "It was a little bit painful for us but helpful and progression is big with only one year to go."

The year-to-go mark next week is followed by the final IOC inspection of Rio 2016 preparations Aug. 10-12. Bach will be at the celebrations where he will hold talks with Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff. The chef de mission seminar is slated for mid-August.

Under Agenda 2020 reforms, Bach praised the "new quality of cooperation" between the IFs and Rio 2016 in Olympic preparations since the crisis meeting in Belek. "We want to continue in this direction, to really have a seamless cooperation between the IFs and IOC when it comes to delivery of the games," he said.

Reported in Kuala Lumpur by Mark Bisson

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