UCI Chief "Surprised" by Undiplomatic Vizer -- On the Scene

(ATR) The president of the International Cycling Union says comments critical of the IOC by SportAccord president Marius Vizer earlier this week caught him off guard, especially in light of what Vizer said to him a year ago.

Cycling chief Brian Cookson was in Sochi this week for the SportAccord Convention World Sport & Business Summit. He told Around the Rings his view of the situation aligns with that of many of his Summer Olympic federation counterparts.

"I was very surprised, like everybody else. Nobody seemed to be expecting it," Cookson told ATR.

"I was doubly surprised because, this time last year, Marius Vizer reacted to some comments I made about possibly moving some of the summer sports into the Winter Games, and he publicly criticized me for making undiplomatic statements without checking with the people affected by them.

"I was just making a general comment sort of thing."

Vizer responded harshly to Cookson, issuing a statement on April 2 of last year to say, "I am available anytime to support him in better understanding the world sports movement and in avoiding press communications at times when he actually does not have any message to transmit."

Cookson does not see anything productive coming from a conflict between the IOC and SportAccord.

"I was quite surprised that Marius intervened in this issue, the relationship between SportAccord and the IOC, in that very confrontational way, without apparently the support of any of his own colleagues, let alone the wider sporting world.

"I think it’s not what we want to see in sport. I don’t think we want a war between SportAccord and the IOC."

He pointed out that UCI was one of the 27 federations that signed the ASOIF letter rebuking the SportAccord president, with Vizer’s federation - judo - standing as the lone holdout.

"We have disciplines in our sport that are not Olympic disciplines, so we understand the issues. Nevertheless we will always give our support to the IOC. We’re part of the Olympic family and we want to see it keep going from strength to strength," Cookson added.

"The last thing we want is a war in sport."

Cookson also believes Vizer put himself in a difficult position.

"There are some issues to be raised and discussed, but I think the way in which he raised them, in that confrontational way, was unhelpful and is likely the be counterproductive. We’ll see what his own board, his own management committee colleagues, think about it. I think his position is quite difficult."

The UCI chief does not see resignation as the necessary answer, though.

"He’s a very passionate and enthusiastic person, of which we all are in sport. That’s why we’re doing the jobs that we do.

"But I think his approach should be modified."

Written by Nick Devlinin Sochi

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