Two New Members Elected to ASOIF Council

(ATR) Marisol Casado, Ingmar De Vos and Morinari Watanabe were on Tuesday elected to serve four-year terms at the top table of summer Olympic sports body ASOIF.

Casado, president of the International Triathlon Union, was re-elected for another term of office. Equestrian chief De Vos and gymnastics president Watanabe will replace José Perurena and former GAISF and FIBA leader Patrick Baumann who tragically died last autumn.

Perurena missed out on re-election, while World Sailing president Kim Anderson, International Shooting Sport Federation leader Vladimir Lisin and World Rowing president Jean-Christophe Rolland also failed in their ASOIF Council election bids.

There was a moment of silence to remember Baumann and his contributions to sport and the Olympic Movement at the ASOIF general assembly on the sidelines of SportAccord in Gold Coast, Australia.

One of the main topics for debate was the 46-page Future of Global Sport document, published in February, which lays out a vision for the future of sport over the next 20 years.

The report’s recommendations calls for the 33 summer federations to adapt and innovate or risk losing some of their influence in world sport. It says they must be more innovative, entrepreneurial, commercially-driven and collaborative.

ASOIF said the report’s conclusions received "very positive reactions" at the SportAccord meeting.

"A number of member federations stated that the report recommendations had gained momentum within their organisations and will be discussed at their upcoming executive board meetings," it the umbrella sports body said.

ASOIF president Francesco Ricci Bitti welcomed the federations’ pro-active stance. "The future of global sport, the role of IFs and their governance are all intertwined," he said.

"By examining these three aspects at the same time, we aim to strengthen our member federations and help them tackle current and future challenges in a fast evolving world. I am very glad to hear they have started to make use of the report findings in their daily work and implement some of the recommendations."

Governance issues impacting the summer IFs was another key agenda item at the ASOIF general assembly.Member sports agreed on the procedure of the third governance review, to be conducted between late 2019 and early 2020.

The aim is for at least 26 of the 28 full ASOIF members to score 120 points out of a maximum of 200 points. ASOIF’s governance unit will continue to help IFs achieve progress in good governance to support this target.

Paris 2024 Olympic officials presented their new event delivery model to better leverage IF expertise for a cost-efficient Games.

Games chiefs have already started to work closely with ASOIF and the IOC sports department and will also closely consult with each IF on their expectations for the Games.

There was also an update from the IOC on preparations for the Dakar 2022 Youth Olympic Games.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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