Federations Roundup - Annual Gatherings Galore; SportAccord Clarification

Annual Gatherings for Equestrian, Sailing, Pentathlon

International federations for horse sport, sailing and modern pentathlon are all fresh off their annual gatherings of national member federations.

Equestrian leaders wrapped up discussion just hours ago of a new governance structure at the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro.

"We hope this will be the turning point for the National Federations to think of the FEI as we, not they," said Colombia’s César Camargo, a member of the Constitutional Task Force set up in April to explore an institutional overhaul.

"The FEI is a truly international body, but we have to be aware that there is no one size fits all, there is no perfect structure."

Over the weekend, the International Sailing Federation’s annual conference came to a close in Puerto Rico.

ISAF’s decision-making Council voted for kiteboarding trials to be held early next year to evaluate the event’s possible inclusion into the sailing program at the Rio 2016 Olympics as well as future competitions.

Also in Puerto Rico, the 2015 Youth Sailing World Championships were awarded to Langkawi, Malaysia and the 2013 Women’s Match Racing World Championship to Busan, South Korea.

The International Modern Pentathlon Union also staged its yearly meeting of member federations over the weekend.

UIPM honorary president Prince Albert II of Monaco opened the proceedings in nearby Nice, France.

"The discussion of the congress was mainly on financial situations and future projects to make Modern Pentathlon more attractive to the media," said UIPM president Klaus Schormann.

"UIPM was very pleased, as the congress underlined the support of laser shooting."

The new technology, also mentioned by Prince Albert in his opening remarks, will make its Olympic debut at London 2012.

Weightlifting World Champs

China stands atop the medal tally at the end of the World Weightlifting Championships.

The country's lifters took home 16 golds, 15 silvers and five bronze from Disneyland Paris, venue for the week-long competition.

Russia was second with 23 overall medals, 12 of them gold. Kazakhstan and Iran tied for third with 11 apiece

Marius Vizer Clarification

International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer is keen to clarify his position on his ambitions for the presidency of SportAccord following an article published by Around the Rings last week.

The article quoted from a letter sent by Vizer to SportAccord chief Hein Verbruggen in which he put forward his nomination for presidency of the umbrella organization for international federations.

Vizer tellsATR hewas only nominating a proposal of an alternative based on Verbruggen's search for candidates to replace him before his four-year mandate is up. That appeal came at SportAccord's general assembly in London earlier this year.

"This declaration came from a president, a leader of the international federations, whose personality and credibility I have never questioned so far," Vizer says in comments sent to ATR.

"Indeed, this item is not on the agenda for Quebec, but I considered that I was acting based on the promise of a gentleman."

Vizer added: "I did not run for elections before the SportAccord Convention in London, because I considered that we had a president and that we will have a president. Following Mr. Verbruggen’s declaration, the situation changed and I reacted accordingly.

World Athletes of the Year

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and Australian hurdler Sally Pearson are the IAAF's athletes of the year.

The pair of 25-year-olds were honored at the federation's annual World Athletics Gala held over the weekend in Monaco.

Bolt ran to gold in both the 200m and 4x100m at the 2011 world athletics championships in Daegu, the latter in world-record fashion.

Pearson, meanwhile, won the 100m hurdles after finishing second at the Beijing Olympics.

Reported by Matthew Grayson and Mark Bisson

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.