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ICF's Perurena: IOC's Sports Evaluation System Needs to Be Re-examined after Canoeing's Brush with Danger |
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Canoeing - 07 Mar 2013 - By Callum Murray in Lausanne
The International Canoe Federation was “disappointed” at its shock appearance among the sports in the firing line last month when the International Olympic Committee was considering which sport to recommend for exclusion from the 2020 Olympic Games, and believes that the system of evaluation of sports on the programme needs to be “re-examined,” according to ICF president José Perurena López.
Canoeing received one vote in favour of its exclusion in each of the first two rounds of voting by the 14 members of the executive board (excluding IOC president Jacques Rogge) before scoring the lowest number of votes in a tie-break, guaranteeing its Olympic survival. Subsequent rounds of voting concluded with wrestling being the sport recommended for exclusion.
In an exclusive interview with Sportcal, Spain’s Perurena, himself an IOC member, said: “The ICF was disappointed to be named in the voting of the 2020 Olympic programme. Certainly all the statistics and anecdotal feedback do not point to canoeing being in such a lowly position in the Olympic Games.
“Therefore our view is that the system of evaluation needs to be re-examined. For example, a few months earlier we were receiving TV production awards for the games in London, then we are mentioned as a potential candidate to be removed from the Olympic programme.”
Perurena said that the he “will obviously be speaking to my colleagues in the IOC and discuss[ing] with ASOIF [the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations] how best this kind of decision should be taken in the future and to ensure it is a fair decision for all sports.”
The process that eventually led to wrestling being recommended for exclusion has been the subject of much criticism among supporters of that sport, as well, it is thought, among some IOC members.
It is understood that IOC members could even be prepared to restore it to the programme in a deliberate snub to the IOC’s executive board and the process by which the sport was recommended for exclusion, suggesting that Perurana could also receive a sympathetic hearing from some of his IOC colleagues.
Wrestling has now joined baseball/softball, karate, roller sports, squash, sport climbing, wakeboard and wushu in vying for the one available space on the 2020 programme.
The executive board will decide in St Petersburg in May which sport(s) to recommend for inclusion, and the final decision will be made in a vote of the full IOC membership at its Session in Buenos Aires in September 2013.
Asked if the IOC is right to review the Olympic programme, potentially imperilling the status of sports with a long Olympic tradition, Perurena said: “It’s the prerogative of the IOC to make these kind of decisions and for sure they are not easy ones to make. For sports like canoeing and many others, however, the Olympic Games is the pinnacle of an athlete’s career, it is the highlight of four years’ work.
“The Olympic Games needs sports like canoeing and canoeing needs the Olympic Games to ensure its future development. No one wants to see a sport being dropped from the programme, it was painful for softball and baseball when they left [after 2008], however other sports have been waiting in the wings to have their chance and I believe the programme can never remain static for long periods, its needs to stay relevant to the masses.”
Baseball and softball were controversially dropped from the programme of the 2012 games, and failed in a bid for reinstatement for the 2016 games. They have now teamed up in a joint bid to try to win back their place on the programme for the 2020 games.
Lessons from London 2012 Perurena claimed that last year’s London Olympic Games taught the ICF that “we are a professional organisation that can lead and ensure a high level of competition at major events. We worked very closely with LOCOG [the games organising committee] for several years even taking the initiative on several areas where we believed strongly that we had the experience and capability to deliver. But the biggest learning was getting as close to the organising team as possible to ensure the best preparations and competition possible.”
He added that the federation had also learned the need to make the most of its stars to help promote the sport. Perurena said: “We need to maintain the focus on the athletes and the stories they bring from a human aspect to apply this between Olympic Games. Our strength is our athletes and we need to put them in the limelight more often in the future.”
The recommended exclusion of wrestling was the culmination of a lengthy process in which each Olympic sport answered a questionnaire aimed at gauging its popularity that included questions relating to the sports’ commercial success.
Perurena claimed: “We have moved the commercial side forward immensely over the previous four years. We have established good TV figures and live production in all our events, World Championships, World Cups and European Championships. This has meant a huge increase in TV exposure in the last few years for our sport.”
The ICF last year appointed Hit the Roof, the multimedia company based in Geneva, as its live television production partner for ICF World Cup events. The company had been the ICF’s television production partner before, having first been appointed for the 2009 ICF World Cup season to produce highlights from each event to distribute to multiple broadcasters.
Perurena said: “We will work again with Hit the Roof in 2013. Consolidating TV production was required in order to attract sponsorship to our sport. We have had some very good interest from large companies that are impressed with our ‘unique’ dynamic image. But it’s clear the recent economic situation makes it hard for all international federations and money is not so easy to attract to sporting events.”
The ICF’s operating budget is about €2 million [$2.6 million] a year, Perurena said, with revenue coming from eight main sources: IOC funding, investments, sponsorship, membership fees, donations, television revenues and sales. He added: “We also rely on the generosity of our national federations and their partners who help hugely to finance our events and athletes each year. Without them our sport would not survive.”
IOC funding represents a “large percentage” of the ICF’s revenue stream, Perurena said, adding that canoeing is in the lowest tier of the IOC’s international federation funding structure (all Olympic sports receive a share of the television revenues of the games, according to a four-tier structure). Asked if he believes that the sport should be placed higher, he said: “We are in Tier 4 and of course we believe we should be higher and this is because technically our statistics and popularity show us to be around the middle of the Olympic programme. But all IFs will tell you they should be higher in the revenue structure, it’s normal.”
Looking forward to the next Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Perurena said: “We are working closely with Rio. We have great potential to showcase the sport of canoeing again. There are some challenges to construct the canoe slalom venue but this is the same for all organizing committees. The backdrop for the canoe sprint regatta course is going to be something unique right in the centre of Rio. So yes we are happy so far with the work but Rio2016 needs to keep focused if it’s to deliver on a high-level Olympic Games.”
Asked for his main priorities as ICF president for the next four-year cycle, Perurena said: “To maintain the image and reputation of canoeing and the ICF. We are undergoing a governance review at the moment, examining the whole structure of the federation and how we work. This is a major piece of work which should put solid foundations in place for the future of the federation.
“Then to ensure canoeing is on TV and in the media around the world in the lead-up to Rio and beyond. Then, importantly, it’s my job to support our teams and athletes at the events because that is what we are doing all this work for.”
Sportcal |
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