Safe Sport Added to Summer Feds Review

(ATR) Athlete safety is now a part of how the governance of the summer Olympic international federations are rated.

Questions about protecting athletes from abuse and harassment are included in the latest governance assessment organized by the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations. The surveys were distributed to the 28 federations last week. Findings of the biennial review are to be released next April.

"The two-year interval from the last governance review allows our members sufficient time to implement the more complex changes which are required. In order to support this process, our Governance Support and Monitoring Unit continues to help IFs achieve progress in this important field," said ASOIF President Francesco Ricci Bitti today at a meeting in Lausanne of the ASOIF Council.

The ASOIF Governance Support and Monitoring Unit was established in late 2018. The unit is supposed to help the federations adopt good governance practices. The governance review is due to be published in April 2020.

The ASOIF meeting is the first for two new members of the council who were elected earlier this year, Ingmar DeVos of the equestrian federation and Morinari Watanabe from gymnastics. Also re-elected was Marisol Casado from triathlon. Other members of the council include Ugur Erdener from archery, Nenad Lalovic of wrestling and Sebastian Coe of athletics.

A statement from ASOIF says the participants in the meeting "agreed that Games preparations are well advanced".

Water quality for swimming events and the impact of heat were specifically mentioned.

The council received an update on planning for the 2022 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal.

"It was highlighted that the strong support of IFs in preparing their respective sporting competitions will be crucial for the success of the event," says the ASOIF statement.

The council also received an esports study on the major factors IFs should consider in deciding how to incorporate esports into their sports. Findings of the study will be released next week.

Reported by Ed Hula.