The Council met last weekend in Copenhagen and took a great deal of time to consider all aspects of these proposed new schedules. As well, it presented the schedules to the coaches and team managers attending the Coaches Conference and listened to their feedback.

In conclusion, the Council is pleased to present the new Olympic and World Rowing Event Schedules. It is believed that these schedules will increase the media impact of FISA events by expanding the number of days that have final races in many cases televised and allow more media focus on the athletes by reducing the volume of finals that take place on any one day.

1. Olympic Games Schedule
The Council re-confirmed the decision to stage the Olympic regatta over eight consecutive days from Saturday, 28 July 2012 to Saturday, 4 August 2012. The reserve day will be Sunday, 5 August 2012. The Council also re-confirmed its decision to stage the Olympic finals over four days, from Wednesday, 1 August to Saturday, 4 August 2012.

In formulating the boat competition programme, the following competitive factors were considered
- Equal treatment for all rowers entered in a boat class
- Even spread between men's and women's events
- A free day after repechage rounds, where possible
- For events with five rounds of racing, as much spread as possible
- Alternate between sweep and sculling events, if possible
- Emphasise the prime "Blue Riband" events singles and eights

The proposed Olympic Games finals schedule is
Olympic Finals Day 1 - W2-, W4x, M8
Olympic Finals Day 2 - M2x, LM4-, W8
Olympic Finals Day 3 - M4x, M2-, W2x, M1x
Olympic Finals Day 4 - M4-, LW2x, LM2x, W1x

2. World Rowing Championship Schedule
The Council confirmed the decision to stage the 2010 World Rowing Championship finals over four days, from Thursday, 4 November to Sunday, 7 November 2010. For clarification, there is no change in the dates of the 2010 World Rowing Championships. The regatta takes place over eight days from Sunday, 31 October to Sunday, 7 November 2010.

In formulating the competition programme, the same competitive issues were considered as for the Olympic Games programme.

The proposed 2010 World Championships finals schedule is
World Ch Finals Day 1 - All Adaptive Boat Classes
World Ch Finals Day 2 - LM2-, W4-, LW2x, LM2x, M4-, W4x, M4x
World Ch Finals Day 3 - M2, LW4x, LM4x, LM4-, W2-, M2-, W1x, M1x
World Ch Finals Day 4 - LW1x, LM1x, LM8, W2x, M2x, W8, M8

3. World Junior Rowing Championships Schedule
The Council confirmed its intention to move the Championships so that the last racing day is on Sunday. Therefore, the 2010 World Rowing Junior Championships will take place from Thursday, 5 August to Sunday, 8 August 2010 in Racice, Czech Republic. In addition, it was decided to stage finals on two days. In order to keep the Championships to four days only, for those events which, at the entry deadline, have 12 or fewer events i.e., no semi-finals, the finals will be staged on the Saturday 7 August 2010. For those events with 13 or more entries at the entry deadline, the finals will take place on Sunday, 8 August 2010.

Based on past entries, the events most likely to have finals on the Saturday are JW4-, JM4, JW8 but this will depend on the entries.

4. World Rowing Under 23 Championships Schedule
The Council confirmed its intention to stage finals on two days. In order to keep the Championships to four days only, for those events which, at the entry deadline, have 12 or fewer events i.e., no semi-finals, the finals will be staged on Saturday, 24 July 2010. For those events with 13 or more entries at the entry deadline, the finals will take place on Sunday, 25 July 2010.

Based on past entries, the events most likely to have finals on the Saturday are BW4-, BM4, BW8 but this will depend on the entries.

5. Rowing World Cup regatta Schedules
The Council confirmed its intention to consistently stage the two singles and the two eights as last four final races of each Rowing World Cup regatta. FISA will ensure that all 14 events are included on the international signal of the host broadcast. This will be of considerable help to many primary television networks because it will encourage their general interest viewers to follow the sport of rowing. It is important to remember that 2010 will be a difficult year for FISA because two of the Rowing World Cup regattas take place during the Football World Cup.

B. Adaptive Rowing Issues

The Council considered several important issues related to Adaptive rowing.

1. Adaptive Racing Distance
FISA has been confronted with several issues related to the 1'000 metre racing distance for Adaptive rowing. The Council intends to change the racing distance to 2'000 metres subject to receipt of any substantive new arguments that haven't been considered up to now.

FISA's goal is to fully integrate adaptive rowing into the main stream. This includes the organisation of regattas, the event programme, athlete experience at the regatta and the television package of the World Championships. FISA has found that this is very difficult when taking into account the requirement of a precise start and the finish at the finish line in front of the grandstands. This is particularly difficult at natural lake regatta venues, for example, at a deep natural lake course like Lake Bled in Slovenia.

Many federations expressed the firm wish that adaptive races finish at the grandstands, which means that a start bridge must be installed at the 1000m. FISA would like the adaptive races to be smoothly and easily integrated into the Championships race programme at any given regatta, without causing any long breaks in the programme and without creating any unrealistic additional costs for the organizers. A pause of any length to move in a start bridge even where it is possible to install one could mean losing any access to main stream television programming and also risks losing the attention of "general public" spectators. In both cases, the real integration of adaptive rowing into the competition is compromised.

Examining the physiological issues involved, a change to 2'000 metres is not a different energy systems for the athletes as they are already using aerobic energy sources for the 1'000 metre distance. And there are many wheelchair and cross country skiing races of extreme aerobic distances for those using only arms and shoulders.

If the racing distance were to remain at 1'000 metres, the adaptive rowing calendar would have to change quite substantially because no adaptive events can be held at Lake Bled - neither at the first Rowing World Cup regatta for 2010 nor at the 2011 World Rowing Championships.

Alternatives include staging the 2011 Adaptive World Rowing Championships at the World Junior Championships or at a Rowing World Cup regatta in 2011. FISA believes that this would be a major step backwards.

A formal decision will be taken during the month of February.

2. Rowing for Athletes with an Intellectual Disability
The International Paralympic Committee IPC voted at their general assembly to include, in principle, athletes with an intellectual disability ID in the Paralympic Games subject to certain conditions. The four sports that could possibly feature ID athletes are rowing, swimming, athletics and table tennis.

The following is taken from the IPC press release on this subject INAS-FID is the International governing body for intellectually disabled sport
This decision opens the participation of ID athletes in Paralympic Sport in a two-step process. At first, the procedure of classification will require the submission of the appropriate medical files to the INAS-FID International Eligibility Committee for review.

Once an application is approved by this Committee, INAS-FID will issue a letter to the athlete stating the athlete is found 'eligible' and is allowed to proceed to the next step of the classification process. The athlete then will proceed to on-site testing by a classification panel, appointed by the International Federation which governs that sport. The on-site testing will focus on 'sports intelligence', and will include tests relevant to that particular sport. Test scores will be evaluated against sport-specific minimal disability scores and the athlete will be allocated the sport class that applies to ID athletes in a particular sport.

As of autumn 2009, no sport-specific minimal disability scores are available yet. This requires the full analysis of all data collected from the 2009 INAS-FID Global Games and other competitions, and it is expected that criteria will be made available mid 2010. It is guaranteed that the ID Athlete Classification System is developed in accordance with the IPC Classification Code, has an evidence-based methodology, and thus strengthens the decisions on the right for ID athletes to be included in a particular sport.
As a consequence, ID athletes will from now on be eligible to compete at the discretion of the International Federation being operationally ready with the classification system.

The development of the "Sport Specific" testing by FISA is still taking place and, consequently, there is no confirmation yet by the IPC and FISA about participation of ID rowers in the Paralympic Games. It is hoped that this decision will be made this spring.

C. Other Council Decisions

1. 1st Rowing World Cup regatta of 2012 - The Council has attributed this event to Belgrade, Serbia for 4 to 6 May 2012. The regatta will take place on the Ada Ciganlija Regatta Course in the centre of Belgrade. It will also serve as the final qualification event for the 2012 Paralympic Games.

2. 2012 Olympic Qualification System confirmed - The Council confirmed this system for the 2012 Games. It will be the same system as that of the 2008 Olympic Games. The final document will be issued shortly by the International Olympic Committee.

3. 2012 Paralympic Qualification System - The Council confirmed the qualification system for the 2012 Paralympic Games which is similar to that of 2008. In principle, the top eight boats ASM1x, ASW1x, TAMix2x and LTAMix4 at the 2011 World Championships will qualify a place for their National Paralympic Committees NPCs. The top two crews in each of the above events at the first Rowing World Cup regatta of 2012 will qualify a place and the remaining places are subject to decisions based on geographic and other considerations by the IPC with FISA. For ID athletes, the detail of the classification and qualification systems is still awaited and then full details will be announced in the spring of 2010. This document will be released shortly by the IPC.

4. Registered Testing Pool - A new formulation of the athletes who will feature in the FISA registered testing pool for 2010 was approved which features objective and subjective criteria. National Federations will be contacted individually with the list of athletes from their countries who are included on this new list.

5. Oceania Rowing Confederation ORCON - The Council has received a request for recognition from the Oceania Rowing Confederation, a grouping of national rowing federations from the Oceania area. After careful consideration and discussion, this confederation was recognised according to Article 18 of the FISA Statutes.

6. Commission Membership - The Council has appointed new members to the following commissions
Athletes - Iain Brambell of Canada was appointed to complete the term of Daisaku Takeda, who recently stepped down, on the Athletes Commission. The term ends in December 2011 at which time he will be eligible for re-appointment.
Competitive Rowing - Hartmut Buschbacher of Germany was appointed to complete the term of Curtis Jordan, who recently stepped down, on the Competitive Rowing Commission. The term ends in December 2010 at which time he will be eligible for re-appointment.
Umpiring - Jacomine Van Ravensbergen of the Netherlands was appointed to a newly-created position on the Umpiring Commission. The term is for one year and then she will be eligible to be re-appointed for a full term.
Events - National Federations are invited to propose names of candidates to fill a vacant position on the Events Commission. Letters of candidacy and current Curriculum Vitae must be received by 15 February 2010 at FISA Headquarters. NFs that are nominating candidates are expected to commit themselves to provide financial support towards the travel and work of the Commission member.
7. Progression Systems - The Council approved a new progression system for 37 and more entries at a World Championship. In the case of 37 to 48 entries, there will be 8 heats with the first two crews advancing to quarter finals while the remaining crews go to repechages in order to determine the quarter finalists. In the case of 49 or more entries, there will be a time trial run in order to determine the quarter finalists.

Several other bye-law changes were made and these will be released shortly, once the wording is finalised.