SportAccord Chief Wants Talks to Defuse Pressures

​(ATR) Marius Vizer wants to talk with the IOC president and Summer Olympic international federations.

The SportAccord president is faced with a growing number of federations suspending their membership in SportAccord over critical remarks he delivered last month against the IOC.

This week triathlon, weightlifting and hockey increased to 11 the number of Summer Olympic federations which suspended their SportAccord membership. More of the 28 summer sports are likely to follow unless Vizer is able to convince them otherwise. He says he wants the chance to do so.

"In order to define the way forward and relieve pressure from the IFs, I have decided to confirm meeting dates with ASOIF (Association of Summer Olympic International Federations) and have launched a

meeting proposal with President Bach, a meeting which I believe needs to be held for the benefit and the unity of the sports movement," said Vizer in a statement.

No word has been given on a schedule for the proposed meetings.

The move by the SportAccord leader is the first public statement indicating an interest in rapprochement after the speech he made in April at the opening of the SportAccord general assembly. Vizer attacked the IOC for not doing enough to support athletes and rejected Olympic Agenda 2020 proposals adopted by the IOC last December.

Vizer has not retreated from his criticism but is apparently keen to listen to others as well as advocate for more resources federations can distribute to athletes.

"I look forward to open and honest discussions which are for the benefit of sport. I hope to have positive discussions which will lead to tangible solutions. There is a need to move the dialogue and debate to society, which is the contributor and beneficiary of the biggest sporting events, while at the same time the consumer of sporting values and goods, and I am ready to do so," he said.

"Unity is paramount and I do not have a personal agenda," Vizer insists.

"My statement in Sochi on 20th of April was meant to launch proper reforms that would result in a better future for sport," he says.

The speech in April by Vizer triggered a suspension of relations with SportAccord by ASOIF, the resolution backed by all 28 international federations except judo, of which Vizer is president. Since then, one by one, the summer federations have notified SportAccord that they are putting their membership on hold.

Vizer’s position is viewed as anti-IOC, which the Olympic federations find uncomfortable. Sports which have aspirations to join the Olympic program as early as the Tokyo Games are also believed to be weighing whether to suspend SportAccord membership.

SportAccord, an amalgam of 100 federations and organizations, was formed 13 years ago. Major stakeholders include ASOIF, AIOWF representing the Winter Olympic federations and ARISF for federations recognized by the IOC but not on the Olympic program.

In addition to services for international federations, SportAccord is the owner of the annual SportAccord Convention, which generates income for these three stakeholders. So far there has been no discussion of suspending this business relationship, which is run separately from the work of the federations union.

Written by EdHula

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