Rowing World Champs; Congresses for Canoe, Equestrian, Gymnastics

Busy Day for Rowing World Champs

Athletes are pulling double-duty at the rowing world championships after the cancellation of opening day races.

Sunday’s action was called off after strong winds gave teams in certain lanes unfair advantages over others elsewhere on the course at Lake Karapiro, New Zealand.

Conditions were calmer Monday as rowers from 49 countries hit the water for preliminary heats.

World champs Susan Francia and Erin Cafaro of the U.S. got off to a strong start in the women’s pair, as did European champs Cedric Berrest and Julien Bahain of France in the men’s double skulls.

Finals begin Thursday and run through Nov. 7. The federation’s annual congress will follow, also in Karapiro.

Canoe Congress Tweaks Rule Ahead of London 2012

The International Canoe Federation has quite a bit of work cut out for itself.

More than 80 national federations gathered in Santiago de Compostela over the weekend for the ICF’s biennial canoe congress.

Elections for first and third vice president kept delegates busy Friday, but Saturday’s packed agenda really set the tone for a sport defined by progress.

Perhaps the biggest news of the weekend came when the congress lent the ICF its blessing to go-ahead with its own live TV production of the seven World Cup events slated for 2011.

The Board will invest nearly $700,000 in the project and, in turn, look for a sponsor to front the cost.

Among the changes to come out of the second day of congress, under-23 racing will join the junior world championships program beginning in 2013, the junior WCs will move from biennial to annual in 2013 and last-minute lineup changes in two kayak sprint events will be allowed in the run-up to London 2012.

For 2011 only, national federations may switch out members of their men’s 1000m K4 and women’s 500m K4 teams even after preliminaries and semi-final races so as to prevent weak links from spoiling their teammates’ bids for Olympic qualification.

Also Saturday, LOCOG canoe manager John MacLeod was on the scene to deliver a progress report on both the Dorney Lake sprint venue and Lee Valley White Water Park slalom venue, the latter of which remains on track to be completed later this year as London’s first new 2012 facility.

Up next for the sport is canoe slalom at the Asian Games, which kick off Nov. 12 in Guangzhou.

Equestrian Federation Dishes Out Events

A slew of event allocations and committee appointments dominated the action Monday as the International Equestrian Federation opened its general assembly in Taipei, Taiwan.

Broholm Castle, Denmark will host the 2011 European Young Riders & JuniorsDressage Championships; Lexington, Kentucky the 2011 North American Young Riders & Juniors Jumping, Dressage, Eventing, Reining Championships; and Herning, Denmark the 2013 European Dressage and Jumping Championships.

The 2010 World Reining Masters Final, meanwhile, was awarded to Bökeberg, Sweden, delayed until next year and renamed the FEI World Reining Final. Exact dates are to be determined.

Also Monday, Robert Norman Thompson of Canada was appointed chair of the FEI Reining Committee, and 11 others were either appointed or reappointed to various federation committees.

Later this week in Taipei, the FEI presidency will be up for grabs.

Friday’s election pits incumbent Princess Haya bint Al Hussein against challengers Henk Rottinghuis of the Netherlands and Sven Holmberg of Sweden.

The race will determine the face of the federation at London 2012.

FEI TV will feature live coverage from the annual assembly throughout the week.

New Members for Gymnastics Federation

The International Gymnastics Federations, FIG, now boasts 130 members.

FIG welcomed Congo, Montenegro, Mozambique and Tajikistan as associated members at its biennial congress over the weekend. Burkina Faso and Swaziland joined as affiliated federations.

Around 290 delegates from 77 national federations were in Vysoké Tatry, Slovakia for the two-day gathering.

FIG president Bruno Grandi reminded gymnastics leaders they must continually reinvent their federations in order to keep pace with changing times.

"We must be vigilant, innovative, and respond to public demand if we are to remain competitive on the sport market," he told attendees. "International sport federations are fighting it out for a piece of the international mediatic pie. Against an ever-changing landscape, gymnastics has its own card to play!"

Cancun, Mexico beat out cities in Slovenia, Japan and Norway for the right to host the next congress in 2012.

Judo’s Future Bright in Brazil

Brazil will have a relative monopoly on the sport of judo ahead of Rio 2016.

The South American country secured three top events over the weekend as the team Judo World Championship were underway in Antalya, Turkey.

The International Judo Federation doled out hosting rights Sunday to the 2012 World Championship by Team as well as the 2013 and 2015 World Championships.

Salvador, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro will do the honors, respectively.

On Sunday, Japan won the men’s world championship and on Saturday, the Dutch women became world champions.

Written by Matthew Grayson.