Federation Focus: Offshore Sailing Quandary, Sport Climbing Election

Sailing Weighs Offshore Boats for Paris 2024

World Sailing faces a June 8 decision deadline by the IOC on whether double-handed offshore event will be contested in the 2024 Olympics.

The international federation had decided in 2018 on a 10-event program for Paris that includes the offshore event. But the IOC has since raised questions, concerned about the complexity of TV coverage and logistical concerns.

The IOC has asked the federation to come up with an alternative to consider that would keep the number of sailing medal events at 10.

More on the controversy in Francs Jeux.

UCI Partners With Zwift for Olympic Virtual Series

Union Cycliste Internationale and Zwift announced its partnership to participate in the IOC’s Olympic Virtual Series.

The UCI and Zwift, an online training and racing platform for cyclists, is one of five sports included in the IOC’s Olympic Virtual Series (OVS). Last week, the IOC launched its first ever virtual series for Baseball, Cycling, Rowing, Sailing and Motor Sport.

"The OVS aims to bring the broader cycling and sporting communities together for four exciting weeks of mass participation focused on inclusion and sharing of the Olympic values and spirit" said UCI President and head of the IOC’s Esports and Gaming Liaison Group, David Lappartient.

The virtual cycling series is open to cyclists worldwide, and will take place June 1-27.

WBSC, Konami Official Partners for OVS

The World Baseball Softball Confederation and Konami Digital Entertainment announced an official partnership for the Olympic Virtual Series on Monday.

The WBSC will use Konami’s eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020 as the official OVS baseball event platform.

The OVS will begin on May 13 with the finals set for Olympic Day June 23. The baseball event online qualifier will take place May 24-30.

"Baseball video games have long been amongst the most produced and most popular sports video games in the industry, and we, together with our official partner KONAMI, will do all we can to successfully realize the vision of the IOC." said President Riccardo Fraccari in a statement.

IFSC Announce Leaders Until 2025

The International Federation for Sport Climbing re-elects Marco Scolaris and Debbie Gawrych as President and Secretary General respectively.

Scolaris and Gawrych were re-elected at the XVII IFSC General Assembly on Sunday, with 57 voting member federations in attendance.

Scolaris was unopposed for another four-year term,Scolaris founded the IFSC in 2007, and has led the federation since. The three day General Assembly was conducted online due to the pandemic, with an appearance by IOC President Thomas Bach for the virtual welcome.

In addition to elections, the IFSC also selected hosts for upcoming General Assemblies, with Salt Lake City, Utah set for 2022 and Singapore in 2023.

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Homepage photo: World Sailing

Written by Ed Hula and Greer Wilson

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