(ATR) Francesco Ricci Bitti, president of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations, issued a pointed blow to the world’s skateboarding officials.
Speaking to reporters in London, Ricci Bitti said the sport cannot be run by commercial interests, and that an umbrella body must be put together unifying the three rival federations hoping to bring skateboarding on the Olympic program. World Skateboarding Federation, International Skateboarding Federation, and the IOC-recognized International Federation of Roller Sports (FIRS) all lay claim to representing true Olympic skateboarding.
But Ricci Bitti said that negotiations are underway to create a uniting body for skateboarding before the final list of additional sports is ratified by the IOC next August. Tokyo 2020 proposed skateboarding, baseball/softball, karate, sport climbing and surfing as the sports that could join the Olympic Program in five years time.
"This is an interesting discussion because it is clear there is no international body," Ricci Bitti said. "So we have put this condition to the IOC that only a sport that has an umbrella can be recognized.
"If you have a sport run by promoters, it doesn’t work in the long term. Now that they have applied we need to work to make the governance more credible because they have many organizations.
He added: "some organizations have good skaters, some organizations have good organization and some are very developed. So now the IOC is working already to put this together."
The oldest organization of the three, FIRS, was the federation chosen to present to the additional sports program panel for Tokyo 2020 on August 7 to make the sport’s case for inclusion in the Games.
Written by Christian Radnedge
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