Monday, April 13, 2009

AIOWSF General Assembly - Floorball is in ARISF, savate not

On the Scene at Sportaccord

Funny thing is that ARISF - still didn't refresh its site from 2005 - new web-site administrator is needed.

3/25/2009

The small number of winter federations in AIOWSF means relative calm before Vancouver. (Getty Images)
Despite the looming Vancouver Olympics, there seem to be few worries for the seven federations that make up the Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations (AIOWSF). The group met behind closed doors for its general assembly at Sportaccord in Denver on Tuesday.
“We are a very small group, it’s very easy to find a good compromise,” President Rene Fasel tells Around the Rings.
“We don’t have any issues coming up, it’s fine.”
Vancouver 2010 sport vice president Tim Gayda and his Sochi 2014 counterpart Denis Polyakov offered updates to heads of the federations.
Also appearing were a delegation from the 2012 Innsbruck Youth Winter Olympics and IOC ethics commission special representative Paquerette Girard Zappelli.
Fasel said AIOWSF will meet in August at Sochi during a coordination commission visit.

Floorball is In at ARISF
The Association of Recognized International Sports Federations (ARISF) added a 32nd member at its general assembly Tuesday when the Finland-based International Floorball Federation was welcomed.
The sport, also known as floor hockey
Floorball joins the recognized federations. (Mikko Stig/AFP/Getty Images)
or ball hockey, was recognized by the IOC last December.
In other news from the ARISF meeting, International Korfball Federation President Jan Fransoo remains president of ARISF, while president emeritus Ron Froehlich was appointed honorary life president and a member of the program commission. Froehlich is president of the International World Games Association.
The meeting included a presentation by WADA director general David Howman who said the focus is shifting from testing to education. WADA is lobbying for greater involvement by law enforcement by "getting evidence on the cheating from people who are paid on a daily basis."

Pleas to IOC: Add More Sports
International Surfing Association managing director Stephanie Keith delivered a report on behalf of President Fernando Aguerre urging the IOC to add new sports to incorporate new athletes and expand the fan base.
Aguerre’s letter says the seven-year waiting period for new sports should be halved to acknowledge rapidly evolving, youth-oriented sports that would translate into higher TV ratings and ticket sales. Aguerre proposed the IOC establish a common evaluation process that is influenced by direct feedback from consumers.
Froehlich said the 10,500-athlete cap at the Summer Games is understandable, but "why can't we have 32 sports and still have the same 301 medal events?" The number of disciplines could be reduced to make way for more sports. He said host cities should be allowed to choose a sport unique to the region.
Fransoo said he was satisfied with the transparency of the process to consider five ARISF members for the 2016 Games.
Rugby sevens, squash, karate, roller speedskating and golf are jockeying for approval in October at Copenhagen.
ARISF received $160,000 in sport development funding from the IOC for distribution to its 32 members. The organization runs on a $20,000 annual budget.

Legacies Now Advice for Games Dreamers
Start early, dream big and invest strategically in Games-related community development, advises the man known unofficially as the chief legacy officer for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Bruce Dewar, CEO of 2010 Legacies Now, gave the Sportaccord City Forum on Tuesday an overview of the pioneering agency creating sustainable environmental, economic and social legacies for Vancouver 2010. Legacies Now was conceived in 1998 to spur sports and recreation investments
Bruce Dewar, CEO of 2010 Legacies Now, gave the Sportaccord City Forum on Tuesday. (ATR/B. Mackin)
regardless of the fate of the bid. It was spun-off into a separate society in April 2002, 15 months before the IOC selected Vancouver as the 2010 host.
After the bid, the scope was expanded to include campaigns for literacy and the arts. Nine new venues were built for the Games, so each community was consulted on post-Games usage. Dewar said it was a strategy to "share the load of legacy development."
But, he said, a 2005 opinion poll found 68 percent of respondents wanted a “non-bricks and mortar” legacy. The provincial government set a goal of doubling tourism revenue in the province by 2015, so 2010 Legacies Now helped enable the Tourism Consortium with B.C., Canada, Vancouver, Whistler and Richmond authorities.
The 2010 Commerce Centre, meanwhile, set up a database of companies hoping to bid on direct and indirect spending on operations and construction for the Games. Aboriginal-owned and inner city-located businesses were encouraged to bid. "We have one of the poorest postal codes in Canada,” Dewar noted.
Legacies Now had $26.4 million in seed funding from the provincial government and ran on a $28.7 million budget in 2007-2008. Programs ranged from anti-obesity physical activities in schools to aiding tourism and hospitality businesses to become more accessible to tourists and workers with disabilities. "We are a bit of a social experiment,” Dewar said.

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