Sportaccord Convention 2011, April 3-9, London, UK – Report to ILS Board and ILS Member Associations

Dr. Steve Beerman, ILS President attended and represented ILS at Sportaccord 2011. This annual gathering of International Sports Federations leaders is an opportunity for advocacy, linkage, relationship building and learning. The meetings include the AGM for the International World Games Association (IWGA), World Masters Games Association , Association of IOC Recognized Sports Federations (ARISF), Association of Summer Olympic Sports Federations, Sportaccord and others.

ILS is a full member of Sportaccord (formerly GAIFS). See http://www.sportaccord.com/en/. The Sportaccord statutes contain an exhaustive catalogue of the full membership conditions. The main criteria are:

Governance

• The applicant is an international non-profit organisation.
• The applicant applies principles of good governance such as transparency, accountability, gender equity, non-discrimination, fairness etc.
• The applicant’s general assembly is the supreme authority of the organisation and elects the executive organs.

Universality

• The candidate governing a winter sport has 25 or more national member federations from a minimum of 2 continents.
• The candidate governing a summer sport has 40 or more national member federations from a minimum of 3 continents.
• A significant number of the candidate’s members are recognised by the respective national authorities or National Olympic Committees as the sole national body governing the candidate’s sports.

Ethics and Responsibility

• The applicant takes measures to promote the participation of women and persons with disabilities, sport for all, fair play, athletes’ health and safety, high standard arbitration and clear competition rules.
• The applicant must be a signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code, have anti-doing rules in line with the World Anti-Doping Code, and be actively involved in the fight against doping.
• The applicant takes measures to protect the athletes and their entourage from corruption, illegal and irregular betting, fraud, and other harmful practices linked to sport.

The IOC Sports Department meets with ILS representatives at Sportaccord Convention. This is a sharing opportunity that allows the IOC Sports Department to be updated on the status and progress within Lifesaving Sport. At that meeting I was asked about the RESCUE 2010 Lifesaving World Championships in Egypt. The IOC Sports Staff were interested in the number of nations participating, the percentage of ILS Member nations that participated and the medal spread. They provided ILS with their “Entourage Commission initiative and will be expecting ILS to report on this at the next meeting.

ILS was successful in the application for associate membership in the World Masters Games Association. Steve Beerman meet with the 2013 World Games Organizing Committee for Cali, Columbia and the IWGA Sec General/CEO/Sport Director. The request for the adjustment of lifesaving athlete composition to allow 10 nations to participate was introduced. This requires formal follow-up with the IWGA.

Dr. Beerman met with the Commonwealth Games Federation President and CEO with the view to advance the position of Lifesaving within future Commonwealth Games. In addition, there were many meeting and informal contact and chat opportunities with IOC Members, and IF leaders from international sport and sport related activities. Steve Beerman had many discussions with Mr Phil Coles, an IOC Member from Australia. Mr Coles continues to be a strong advocate for Lifesaving.

All ARISFs were briefed on the process for the addition of 5 short list sports for possible inclusion in the Summer Olympic Games of 2020. There may be 1-2 additional sports in 2020. There was a commitment from the IOC Sport Department to short list 5 ARIFS Sports. There are 32 ARIFS Sports. See http://www.arisf.org/ The more probable ARIFS sports for Summer Olympic Games consideration include, cricket, racquetball, squash, baseball and one other. Lifesaving would be a possible consideration. There has been guidance from several sources to advance lifesaving for multi-sport games. The ARIFS formal questionnaire will be due to the IOC Sports Department before the end of April. The short list will be announced in November 2011.

Lifesaving has not yet achieved core status in the proposed Sportaccord Beach Games. Lifesaving should be part of these games. The first Sportaccord Beach Games are being planned for 2013.

The next Sportaccord Forum will be in November 14-16, 2011 in Lausanne. The next Sportaccord Convention and AGM will be in Quebec City, Canada, May 20-25 2012.

Many thanks to the ILS Secretary General for his preparations for these meeting. Thanks are also due to our ILS WADA Administrator, Karin Obus for her work to maintain a clean WADA standing.

Dr. Steve Beerman
President
International Life Saving Federation