An interesting document arrived in my inbox this evening. I’ve included an excerpt below. It’s from the Olympic Programme Commission Review of the Olympic Programme and the Recommendations on the Programme of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008.
Catchy title, isn’t it! It was published in August 2002.
Here’s the bit that might interest you….
3.1.4 Recommendations on the events/athlete quotas of sports currently in the Olympic Programme
While noting that a full review of the event programme and athlete quotas for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad would be conducted following the decisions on sports and disciplines, the Commission developed certain recommendations on the events or athletes quotas in the following sports on the programme of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad:
Sailing (ISAF) – Reduction in athlete quota and number of events
In comparison with other individual sports, the Commission noted the high quota and number of events in sailing, in comparison to the low broadcast and spectator appeal. In addition, the cost and complexity of the operations of the sailing competition were discussed, with the resulting challenges for general practice and development of the sport.
The Commission therefore recommends the reduction of the athlete quota and number of events in the sport of sailing for the Programme of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.
It was noted that the Keelboat class are very expensive boats and demand costly infrastructure for Olympic competition, and for general practice and development in comparison to other classes. Therefore, if the Executive Board recommends the reduction in the number of athletes and events, the Commission believes these reductions could be made through the exclusion of keelboat sailing events from the Programme of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, which would also reduce the construction and operational costs and complexity.
There, I thought you’d find that interesting…
The ISAF Council members who voted for a keelboat at the expense of a multihull or women’s skiff are playing fast and loose with sailing’s Olympic status. Considering what a large proportion of ISAF’s income stems from sailing’s inclusion in the Olympics, this is a dangerous game to be playing.
Bear in mind that these recommendations were for 2008. Last week’s decision means ISAF has ignored these recommendations for yet another Olympic cycle.
If you want to see this excerpt in its full context, you can find the document here on the Olympic.org website
Catchy title indeed… well done for bringing this up.
It really seems that the time has arrived for a proper revolution within our beloved sport. The whole process and organisation as it is now is not laughable, it brings us into tears. Women’s Committee, Event Committee working hard towards better Olympic regatta and then the Council closing their ears/eyes for all good suggestions and voting for something which has been seen as the wrong direction already 5yrs ago!
We need stronger views and involvement from the media – after all they run the show in all sports, if they like it, so do the sponsors and so on.
Who cares what our G&T politicians in the ISAF cabinets think, they must go. Time for some KICK A__ ACTION.
By: Eero Lehtinen on 16 November 2007
at 10:53 am
I just looked at the document and it also said:
‘Weight category events should not be allowed, except for the combat sports and for
weightlifting’
Does the Men’s (heavy) single hander not fall under the title of a weight event (seeing as it specifies heavy weight in the name…)?
Come on ISAF, listen to what you are being told by the IOC and the sailing community – represent what the people who will be doing the sailing really want.
By: mjs on 16 November 2007
at 11:05 pm
[...] Thanks to readers who have drawn my attention to some other points of interest in the IOC document which I mentioned a few days [...]
By: Weight a moment! What’s this? « SailJuice Blog on 19 November 2007
at 10:57 pm