London Tapped as New Home of World Sailing -- Federations Focus

(ATR) London will serve as the international home of World Sailing as one of the first steps in president Kim Andersen’s plan to increase the federation’s prominence.

"As with all good leadership, the board and myself have looked into what is best for the World Sailing organization and for our sport," said Andersen, elected to lead the federation in November.

"We have taken into consideration the DNA of World Sailing as a whole, the technical skills we need to run the organisation, the aspect of being international and having options of multi-lingual competencies and accessibility."

London was selected over competitors such as the Olympic capital of Lausanne and fellow Swiss city Geneva, Spain’s Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia and two other English cities – Southampton and Winchester.

Southampton, London, Barcelona and Valencia were shortlisted by World Sailing's Board of Directors in December 2016 before London was chosen on Jan. 31. Southampton served as the previous headquarters of World Sailing for 20 years prior to the decision.

World Sailing has yet to identify where in London the office will be established but says its move is scheduled for the end of this summer.

"World Sailing received strong interest from cities wanting to host the International Federation headquarters," said World Sailing chief executive officer Andy Hunt. "Each city put forward a strong proposal and I thank them for their proposals and Southampton for hosting the governing body for the last two decades."

ITU Partners with Ironman

Ironman events will now be sanctioned by the International Triathlon Union under a new agreement between the two organizations.

The ITU and Ironman signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Jan. 31 in Tampa, Florida that outlines the collaboration seeking to expedite the growth of triathlon across the globe.

According to the ITU, the MoU focuses on "standardized rules, further collaboration on anti-doping efforts, national federation relations, sanctioning, a single-set of rules and collaborative marketing initiatives to grow the sport at the age-group level".

The ITU says the agreement is the culmination of years of behind the scenes collaboration with Ironman.

"The best way to grow triathlon, and improve the sport at all levels, is to do so together," said ITU president and IOC member Marisol Casado. "Continuing strong collaboration with Ironman will serve to further evolve triathlon across the world."

Under the new agreement, ITU will be recognized as the sole federation leading the sport and the two organizations will seek to create a unified set of rules for long-distance triathlon starting in 2018.

Judo Athletes Awarded Hefty Cash Prize

IJF president Marius Vizer awarded 14 judoka athletes $50,000 each for their accomplishments in 2016.

Each of the seven men and women were ranked at the top of the final world ranking list for last year.

Prize money winners include Kayla Harrison of the USA, Idalys Ortiz of Cuba, Takanori Nagase of Japan and more.

Click here for the full list of winners.

"I am very happy that in 2016 I was the first in the world ranking! 2016 was very successful for me, I won gold at the European Championships and silver at the Olympic Games!"Rio 2016 Olympic silver medalist Rustam Orujov said in a statement.

"I want to thank the President of the International Judo Federation [for] this gift!"

Winners will be competing in the 2017 Paris Grand Slam taking place from Feb. 11-12.

Written by Kevin NutleyandCourtney Colquitt

Forgeneral comments or questions, click here.

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