Around the Rings Exclusive: World Olympians Association Hit By Internal Strife

(ATR) Despite warnings from the president of the World Olympians Association that to meet would be illegal, a group of Olympians from at least 30 countries gathered in Miami this weekend to plot changes for an organization that is supposed to represent more than 90,000 Olympians.

The meeting is the latest incident in a long-festering dispute between some members of the WOA and the leadership of the organization under President Pal Schmitt of Hungary.

The Miami meeting was billed as an extraordinary general assembly of the WOA, a claim that prompted Schmitt to complain that the meeting was outside the rules of the association. No officials from the current WOA executive attended the meeting.

While there was plenty of unhappiness expressed about the lack of direction for the WOA, the Miami meeting did not result in the coup d’etait that was perhaps feared by Schmitt. In sessions of the meeting open to press coverage, delegates steered clear from attacking Schmitt, IOC member and president of the Hungarian Olympic Committee.

"It is unfortunate that some people are trying to put us in such a bad light. We are not here on witch hunt or anything like that. We just want to bring positive ideas to the World Olympians Association," said Anthony Grimm, a third generation Olympian from Peru who was one of the organizers of the Miami meeting.

Others in Miami echoed his sentiment, saying that this meeting was not an attempt to undermine the WOA, "but a time for discussion and learning".

More specifics on the issues around the meeting in Miami can be seen at the website for the event, www.exga.org. The WOA was founded in 1995. Its website is www.woaolympians.com

Unhappiness among the rank-and-file of the WOA has been building for a couple of years. There are questions over the mission of the organization and its financial health, especially with the termination of a $1 million sponsorship from the city of Osaka, Japan. The end of that sponsorship led to the closing of the WOA regional office in Osaka. Also closed in the past year was an office in Miami that served the Americas. Neither move has proved popular with WOA members in the affected regions.

Former WOA secretary general Liston Bochette, on the scene in Miami, is part of the confusing picture, too. Bochette says he resigned, but Schmitt says Bochette was fired from his $80,000 a year post "after a unanimous vote of no confidence at our Executive Board meeting in Beijing in December 2005". Financial irregularities are alleged.

In comments to Around the Rings in March, Schmitt admitted that the WOA is in need of a new financial structure following the loss of the Osaka sponsorship.

Apparently the IOC is making plans to step in with financial support, but the arrangement is still a work in progress. Among the issues would be the amount of support the IOC would provide and how much administrative help the association could receive. It is possible that the WOA would have to surrender its ability to seek sponsors. The WOA has a relationship with Visa International that provides for the Olympians Reunion Center that’s been a part of every Games since Sydney 2000.

In an email to ATR, Schmitt says the WOA will be successful "only if unity and solidarity work between us."

"It is natural that within an organization there are disputes and disagreements. We are trying to settle these conflicts to the best of our knowledge always respecting the WOA Constitution and the autonomy of the (National Olympians Associations).

In addition to dealing with their concerns about the WOA, Olympians from the Americas met separately as a group this weekend. They agreed to form a Pan American association, electing Dick Fosbury as the chair for the proposed group, which may still need the blessing of the WOA.

Delegates at the Miami meeting spent hours behind closed doors hashing out their plans for the October WOA General Assembly in Lausanne. New leaders for the association will be elected and the assembly may also ratify the IOC takeover of the WOA.

Ana Kok, president of the Netherlands National Olympians Association said "we want to learn from each other this weekend throw ideas out so we can go to the General Assembly with a plan. After this weekend, the ball is in [the WOA’s] court".

Schmitt says the WOA needs more than a sponsor to move ahead.

"The WOA is looking for a new partner that is not just a sponsor, but a real partner. We trust that the IOC will regard us, Olympians as the 4th pillar of the Olympic Movement and gives us moral and financial support," he says.

With reporting from Miami by Ed Hula III.

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