FISA Council addresses Agenda 2020

FISA President Jean-Christophe Rolland recently attended the IOC Extraordinary Session where Agenda 2020 was approved unanimously by the IOC members. Rolland, an Olympic Champion, stated “The Olympic Games is the pinnacle of the sporting experience and we are proud of rowing’s long-standing involvement in the Olympic Movement. I am convinced that the Agenda 2020 recommendations will fully address the needs for the next generation of athletes and reflect the evolution of sport in society .”

The IOC’s Agenda 2020 is a series of adjustments creating a flexible roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement under the guidance of IOC President Thomas Bach. The Agenda includes 40 recommendations which include creating a more flexible and less expensive Olympic bid process, a move from a sport-based to an event-based programme, an Olympic TV channel and a strengthening of the principles of good governance and ethics in the Olympic movement. There are also measures to reduce discrimination in sport on sexual orientation and the promotion of drug-free athletes.

The FISA Council reviewed the 40 recommendations to align them with FISA’s Strategic Plan and prepared appropriate changes to FISA’s statues, rules, regulations and bye-laws. The Council members then met in five working groups to re-assess each point from Agenda 2020 and make appropriate amendments against the five goals of FISA’s Strategic Plan.

“FISA’s Strategic Plan already aligned with most elements of Agenda 2020 and the FISA Council was able to use the IOC’s 40 recommendations to fine-tune the plan,” said Rolland. “I see this as a positive step forward in the future of rowing.”

Recommendations
Recommendations 1 and 2 – The bidding process
FISA will work closely with the bidders and IOC to find suitable existing venues as well as seek venue-sharing possibilities with other sports. As well, the appropriate balance of legacy and sustainability will be carefully considered while finding flexibility and reasonableness.

Recommendations 9 and 10 – Framework for the Olympic Programme and an event-based Programme
The FISA Council acknowledged the framework adopted for the Games programme with 10,500 athletes competing in 310 events.. The programme would change to be based on events rather than sports, and FISA will be prepared for this. It was acknowledged that events from sports not currently in the programme could be included in the Olympic programme.

Recommendation 11 – Gender equality
The FISA Council acknowledged the clear direction provided by the IOC to achieve 50 per cent female participation in the Games and to stimulate women’s participation and involvement in sport. FISA has already made steps in this direction with a 40:60 per cent female:male athlete split for Rio and is continuing to consider appropriate and achievable steps towards equality in participation and events.

Recommendation 12 – Reduce costs and reinforce flexibility
The FISA Council noted the importance of reducing costs for the Games and finding ways to be flexible in many areas such as service levels.

Recommendation 13 – Synergies with Stakeholders
FISA welcomed the initiative of the IOC to enhance its role in planning and delivering the Olympic regattas. This is a model that is already being used for Rio 2016 with the rowing competition manager coming from FISA.

Recommendation 25 – Review of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG)
FISA is very interested to contribute to this review and find ways to make the YOG as effective as possible. It is important that the Olympic movement reaches young people in new ways and the YOG is a great opportunity that needs some analysis and fine tuning.

All other recommendations were carefully reviewed, one by one, in order to assess the direct or indirect impact on the sport of rowing and on FISA. The FISA Strategic Plan is being updated for further consultation with the member national rowing federations.

A special meeting will take place in London on 8 March 2015 for the leaders of the national federations with the FISA Council. This meeting will discuss the contributions that the sport of rowing can make to Agenda 2020, possible changes and impact coming from Agenda 2020, the updates to the FISA Strategic Plan and plans to develop in-depth strategies for greater universality, equality and sustainability for the sport of rowing.

In addition to this careful and detailed consideration of Agenda 2020, the Council also addressed

• A review of the 2014 World Rowing events and lessons learned
• The Event programmes for the 2015 World Rowing events – the programmes will now go to the national federations, the organising committees and the television rights holders for comments.
• The 2016 Olympic and Paralympic racing schedules – At the request of the Rio2016, the IOC and the IPC, these schedules were finalised and adopted.
• The new 2015 anti-doping bye-laws.
• The frequency of pre-competition cardiovascular screening.
• Freeze on technology developments allowed during competition – More details will be released shortly.
• New FISA appointments. For details story here. 
• Review of the competition location for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires – to be held in Puerto Madero.
• FISA’s adherence to the IOC’s Integrity Betting Intelligence System – FISA joins the IOC and other international federations in working to prevent manipulation of sport competitions through betting. More details will follow.
• A full review of the status of FISA’s projects on universality, equality and sustainability

The next FISA Circular will fully address the above points.

For a list of FISA Council members, here.