Bled selected for 2011 World Rowing Championships

The 115th Annual Ordinary Congress of the International Rowing Federation (FISA) was held in Munich, Germany on Monday 3 September 2007. Close to 200 delegates attended the annual meeting which took place right after the 2007 World Rowing Championships. President Denis Oswald chaired the congress and again praised the organising committee of the 2007 World Rowing Championships for the outstanding event.

The main decisions taken by the FISA Congress were:

2011 World Rowing Championships
FISA received three excellent bids for the 2001 World Rowing Championships: Amsterdam (NED), Bled (SLO) and Lucerne (SUI). FISA Council had decided earlier this year to recommend the Slovenian and Swiss bids for voting to the Congress. Amsterdam showed great sportsmanship by withdrawing their bid in support of the other two cities. The two remaining cities were put to a vote and the delegates voted to attribute the event to Bled (SLO) with 129 votes over 21 for Lucerne (SUI).

2011 World Rowing Junior Championships Bids
Future Olympic Regatta course Lake Dorney/Eton (GBR) was awarded the 2011 World Rowing Junior Championships with 96 votes against 56 for Hamburg (GER). This will be the test event for the 2012 London Olympics.

2010 World Rowing Under 23 Championship
Two bids had been put forward for this event, Brest (BLR) and Trakai (LTU). In yet another show of great sportsmanship, the Lithuanian federation withdrew their bid just before going through to vote in a show of support for the new Belarus regatta course.

2009 World Rowing Forum
The Executive Committee also announced that the 2009 World Rowing Forum will be held in Philadelphia (USA) in 5-7 November 2009. The city was chosen among three very good bids from Tunis (TUN) and Vancouver (CAN) and Philadelphia (USA).

Schinias/Marathon (GRE) official FISA training venue
An agreement was signed between FISA and Athens Olympic Properties regarding the future of the Schinias/Marathon (GRE) Olympic Rowing Centre. This centre will now become an official FISA international training centre. This venue was, of course, used for the 2004 Olympic Games. This agreement allows all national rowing federations access to this outstanding facility for training camps all year round.

2008 Ordinary Congress
The Congress also confirmed the date of the 2008 Ordinary Congress which will be held on Friday 25 July in Linz/Ottensheim (AUT) at the beginning of the World Rowing Junior and Senior Championships.

Council Elections
The FISA Congress re-elected the Chairs of its specialist commissions for a further four year term until December 2011; Jean-Christoph Rolland (FRA) – Athletes Commission, Paul Fuchs (USA) – Materials Commission, Denis Masseglia (FRA) – Rowing for all commission, Alain Lacoste (FRA) – Medical Commission and Algirdas Raslanas (LTU) – Youth Commission.

128 Member Federations
The FISA Congress unanimously approved the addition of Bermuda and Madagascar as full members of FISA, bringing the total membership of FISA to 128 countries.

2010 World Rowing Masters Regatta
This will take place in St. Catharines, Canada, site of the 1970 and 1999 World Rowing Championships.

2009 Rowing World Cup regattas
These will take place in Banyoles (site of the 1992 Olympic Games regatta) ESP, Munich GER and Lucerne SUI.

2010 Rowing World Cup regattas
These will take place in Bled (test event for the 2011 World Rowing Championships) SLO, Munich GER and Lucerne SUI.