(ATR) IOC member and ski federation president Gian-Franco Kasper will chair SportAccord until a new president is elected in November.
IOC president Thomas Bach with Gian-Franco Kasper (ATR)Following Marius Vizer’s resignation as SportAccord president in May, Kasper, as senior vice president, took over the embattled organization.
On Monday, the SportAccord Council confirmed that Kasper will remain as the interim leader of SportAccord until an election for a new president is held. Until that time, Kasper "exercises the function of an ad hoc chairman of the council," according to the SportAccord Council.
The extraordinary general assembly will likely take place in November in conjunction with the International Federations Forum hosted annually by SportAccord.
Candidates for the position are still unknown. Kasper tells Around the Rings he is "not interested" in serving as SportAccord president after his interim duties are completed.
The candidates for presidency are not the only item still up in the air for the organization. Earlier in June, the IOC officially suspended its membership and $300,000 of annual funding to the organization. A day later, ASOIF president Francesco Ricci Bitti confirmed to ATR the SportAccord Convention would not be returning to Russia, casting doubt on the future of the event.
Kasper tells ATR that a restructuring of the organization is absolutely necessary.
"For me, it is clear – we need to be a pillar of the Olympic movement, with the IOC and NOCs," Kasper opined. "We have to re-organize our pillar – we have to have common voice for the international federations, but not in the way it is now."
Kasper’s belief in a restructuring of the organization came before Vizer resigned at the end of May. Kasper is the head of the Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations (AIOWF) and chose to suspend AIOWF’s membership with SportAccord before he took over as the interim leader.
Kasper says he believes SportAccord is still a necessary pillar of the Olympic movement, albeit not in the same manner as Vizer.
"It’s important that the international federations meet to exchange information and know-how," Kasper said. "Everything else that Mr. Vizer introduced, such as the multi-sports games, that’s a different story."
Written by Kevin Nutley
Homepage photo: Getty Images
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