By David Owen at the SportAccord Convention World Sport & Business Summit in Sochi
April 21 – FIFA President Joseph Blatter has sided firmly with Thomas Bach, his International Olympic Committee (IOC) counterpart, as the IOC boss came under withering attack from SportAccord’s Marius Vizer in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday.
The SportAccord President stunned convention delegates by using his opening speech at the body’s General Assembly to lambast the IOC for running a system that is “expired, outdated, wrong, unfair and not at all transparent”. Bach responded in kind by claiming that Vizer’s views were out of step with the International Sports Federations (IFs) which make up SportAccord, the umbrella organisation for Olympic and non-Olympic sports.
Blatter was one of a number of prominent sports leaders who later gave substance to the IOC President’s claim by signing a letter in his support. Headlined ‘Statement of International Federations’, this succinct, two paragraph declaration read as follows:
“We the undersigned members of the SportAccord Association are expressing to the SportAccord leadership our disagreement on the opinions expressed this morning by the SportAccord President during the opening speech which do not reflect the views of the International Federations.
“We also express our strong support to the International Olympic Committee and to the Olympic Agenda 2020 which has been adopted under the leadership of the IOC President Thomas Bach in consultation and agreement with all the International Federations.”
Other signatories included leaders of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the International Swimming Federation (FINA) and the International Triathlon Union (ITU).
Three federations, headed by the IAAF, went as far as to resign from SportAccord.
While events at this major gathering of world sports leaders are moving fast, a consensus seemed to be building by the end of the day that Vizer may have seriously overplayed his hand. Meetings are set to continue for most of the rest of the week.
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