| Looking ahead to our annual meeting, we have a lot of work to do regarding our events and equipment development. In particular, we must check the slate of events, ensuring that we have ten strong events that reflect the diversity of our sport and as we move forward we must also see how we can minimize equipment changes benefitting the wishes of MNA`s.
During the process for the selection of events and equipment, different views were put forward. Unfortunately, some wild accusations and rumors were made regarding several topics. I would like to take this opportunity to mention one in particular, which is the reference made to questions of anti-monopoly.
At this moment all Council members have received information about the restrictions imposed by manufacturers who have raised issues concerning supply rights for Olympic equipment. While the prospect of conducting a reversal of the chosen events has been suggested by some MNA’s, allow me to say that this is not a tenable solution from a legal perspective.
Furthermore, I would like to inform you all that there has been a lot of misinformation raised regarding kiteboarding. To clarify once again, this discipline became part of the World Sailing family in 2008 and it was only shortly after this time that they were included as part of the event and equipment selection process for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
With regards to the general process of Olympic events and equipment selection, the main criticisms focuses on the fact that the majority are not in favor of a change in the Olympic program. I personally believe that when Regulation 23 was approved by the Council in 2014, it was accepted, because it was dealing with the evaluation of events and equipment based on a structured process.
While our Olympic events and equipment programs have been stable, the number of athletes allotted to
sailing has decreased significantly from 460 in 1996 to 350 athletes in 2020. The reason behind these disappointing results is a combination of a limited numbers of total athletes being able to participate at the Olympics as well as the introduction of new sports and events in the Olympic program. While some are asking about getting an extra medal for our sport, I believe securing the existing numbers of athletes that we will have in Tokyo once more at the Paris 2024 Games is of primary importance.
As we prepare to
take key decisions for our sport at the upcoming annual meeting, there are two questions that I urge all of us in World Sailing to asking ourselves:
1) Do the 10 disciplines chosen represent the diversity of sailing?
2) How can we select equipment for these events and make sure that the equipment change is as minimal as possible?
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