Information Sharing is "Primary Lesson" From IF Forum

(ATR) Following a tumultuous week for world sport, International Federation leaders stress need for greater cooperation.

Leaders from more than 100 Olympic and non-Olympic bodies met for three days in Lausanne sharing ideas for the betterment of sport, while turmoil surrounding the International Association of Athletics Federations and Russian doping crisis has dominated headlines.

Attendees discussed the benefits of the annual gathering and necessity for close cooperation.

International Golf Federation executive director Antony Scanlon said the session was a learning experience for him as golf prepares for its long awaited return to the Olympic Games in Rio 2016.

"We’re learning a lot because it’s all about building relationships and you can never know enough," Scanlon said.

"Any event is about relying upon the friendships and the relationships to get you through things and if there is a problem or issue they can come to help you or vice-versa, as well as giving us a look and feel of what Rio will be like.

"I’ve reached out to others regularly, for example Francesco at tennis," Scanlon said of the former International Tennis Federation president Francesco Ricci-Bitti. "They’ve been great helpers and supporters and we have a lot of synergies in terms of the way we’re structured with the level of athletes that we have and their professionalism."

International Luge Federation (FIL) leader Josef Fendt echoed similar thoughts.

"Information sharing is very important and I think that is the primary lesson here, to understand what everybody else is doing," Fendt said.

"Each federation is very unique and it’s hard to have one approach that fits everyone," Fendt added.

"Governance in sport" was the theme of this year’s Forum held at the newly-opened Hotel Royal Savoy in the Olympic capital.

New ITF president David Haggerty said that his first IF Forum has been enlightening and beneficial.

"It’s been a great opportunity to get to know some of the other IF presidents for the first time," said Haggerty, the only current U.S. leader heading an Olympic federation. "There are some federations that we have similarities with and some differences, but just getting to network and meet them so in the future we can share best practices and ideas."

Veteran boxing federation president and IOC Executive Board member C.K. Wu said that although the various federations have different needs and challenges, they remain one connected family.

"The main issue for us remains fair play, clean, honest transparency," Wu told ATR. "That remains my very important principle and we have to stick to that."

Wu advised that his federation has recently gone a major overhaul and he discussed this openly with other sport leaders.

"We just keeping moving ourselves in the right direction and we hope can other federations can make the necessary changes for them," Wu said.

One of the closing sessions on Friday entailed establishing dialogue on a compilation of ideas with the goal of understanding current practices and key focus areas for all federations.

Golf’s Scanlon said: "getting an understanding of what all the federations are doing in terms of sustainability and to look at common approaches and other approaches that are unique to different sports was the purpose of the session.

"Long-term when all of this is aggregated and we come back in twelve months time we’ll have a stronger message to tell than if it was just being told individually."

Written by Brian Pinelli

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