The Council reviewed a number of important current issues including progress on the ISIS Project, the autonomy of the Olympic Movement, new Multi-Sports Games and the decision of the IOC Executive Board on the “core” 25 sports for the Games programme of 2020.

Some of the main issues discussed and decisions taken are listed below:

Decision of the IOC on core 25 sports


The ASOIF Council expressed its disappointment with the recommendation of the IOC Executive Board to remove Wrestling from the core Olympic Programme, and does not think that the process has been in the best interests of the IOC or the Olympic Movement.  A constructive letter will be sent to the IOC expressing ASOIF’s position and offering to contribute with help and support for a different process in future. 

Autonomy of the Olympic Movement


ASOIF continues to support its members and the IOC in addressing a number of specific cases of interference by governments and other external bodies in sports affairs of the respective NOC and National Federations. The ASOIF President will write to the ANOC President to propose a date in June for the ASOIF Council and ANOC Executive Board to discuss items of mutual interest including closer cooperation in these cases.

Consultative Groups


Six ASOIF Consultative Groups are now in place (as listed below) and have all met or are scheduled to meet during the first few months of 2013.  There are more than 35 experts from our members making up these groups representing 26 IFs and it is expected that all 28 IFs will soon be taking part in the groups. The groups are already significantly contributing to increasing ASOIF’s “in-house” capability as well as enhancing a feeling of inclusion and unity amongst the members.

ASOIF Legal Consultative Group (ALCG)


The ASOIF Legal Consultative Group, chaired by Council member Göran Petersson, last met on 5th December 2012 and discussed the IOC “core” sports and Olympic Programme process as well as legal implications of the ISIS Project. With ISIS at the core of ASOIF’s projects, various ownership structures were discussed as well as issues concerning data rights and IF data contribution. Other issues for the group include the IF Model Documentation Project and the provision of IF model rules for host city agreements, broadcast agreements, betting and anti-corruption regulations and other legal documentation. The group agreed that, together with good governance statute clauses, a bid manual framework is the next priority for the Model Documentation Project. 

ASOIF Olympic and Multi-Sports Games Group (AOMSG)


The AOMSG’s first work has been a review of the IF Olympic Games Memorandum of Understanding with Rio 2016 and the follow-up to the London 2012 Games debrief. The group provided consolidated feedback including changes and amendments to Rio 2016, and further discussions with the IOC have recently taken place.

ASOIF Sports Development and Education Group (ASDEG)


The primary current project of ASDEG is the Workshop on 8-9 April. The workshop will be an opportunity for those working in development and education to meet to discuss the challenges IFs face with regards to coaching and development and share best practices while shaping the direction of future work. A task of the workshop will be an evaluation of the International Sports Coaching Framework proposed by the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE).
 

ASOIF Medical Consultative Group (AMCG)


A key issue of the AMCG has been the review of the WADA Code. The group reviewed at the end of last year the changes to the latest draft of the Code after the 2nd consultation phase and will oversee the preparation of members’ questions to WADA for its presentation to the General Assembly. The group will also conduct a review of the papers for the WADA EC and FB to prepare our representatives for the upcoming meetings.

ASOIF Commercial Consultative Group (ACCG)


The group will hold its first meeting in the first quarter of this year concentrating on the commercial aspects of the ISIS project and other business issues of common interest to the IFs.

ASOIF Information Technology Group


The group met for the first time on February 4th and focused on the ISIS project. The meeting prepared the IF workshop that was held the following day. The group will provide guidance on the next steps of the ISIS project, drive decision-making and give IF input into the ISIS project from a technology perspective. The aim is that the group will meet every quarter reflecting the importance of the ISIS project.  

Shared IF Data Platform (ISIS – International Sports Information System)

At the request of the ASOIF Council at its meeting of November 30th, 2012, the ISIS project team has worked on clarifying the client relationship between ISIS and IOC. This will set out the provision of Biographies, Historical Results, and Records for all future summer Olympic Games. 

Work has begun on the data standard definition aspect of the ISIS project and the team is also making good progress and working closely with the IOC administration to come up with a global and unified standard that would satisfy all involved stakeholders and that could be used for ISIS data exchange.

WADA Code Review Process

The final consultation period for the revision of the WADA Code began on 1 December and ended on 1 March 2013. The ASOIF administration, in conjunction with the MCG, will coordinate and collect all individual comments from its members in time for discussion at the ASOIF General Assembly in St Petersburg.

Next Meeting

ASOIF will hold its next Council on May 26, 2012, in St Petersburg, Russia, the day before the annual ASOIF dinner kindly supported this year by FIE, who are celebrating their Centennial. The General Assembly will take place on 28 of May.