ASOIF Council looks into implications of expanded LA28 sports programme
During its last meeting of the year, held on 13 November 2023 in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Council of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) discussed the substantial implications of the recent International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session decision to expand the programme for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games (LA28).
In October, the Session approved five additional sports for the LA28 Olympic Games, which are baseball/softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash, implying record numbers of sports and athletes for this edition. The decision has raised several questions among ASOIF members, including, but not limited to the International Federation (IF) Olympic revenue share (as of LA28) and Games delivery. During its meeting, the Council agreed to raise these urgent matters with the IOC leadership.
ASOIF President Francesco Ricci Bitti, who chaired the meeting, said: “Over the last years, the nature of the Olympic Programme has changed, making it more dynamic than ever. New principles, processes and frameworks are required to deal adequately with this evolution and important matters like IF revenue share, athlete quotas, Olympic qualification systems and Games optimisation. These are the issues that hugely impact IF operations and have far-reaching effects on the entire Olympic Movement.”
The Council also took a clear position on the World Friendship Games and calls on ASOIF’s member federations to exercise great caution regarding their involvement with this initiative, which is not conducive to dialogue within the sports world during these challenging times.
Following the SportAccord General Assembly the previous day, the Council members welcomed the adoption of the new statutes for SportAccord which provide the foundation for a strong governance structure. The new SportAccord is well equipped to streamline relevant operations previously carried out by GAISF, and to eliminate the unnecessary duplications.
The Council was also updated on the recently launched Fifth Review of IF Governance. The self-assessment questionnaire was distributed to the ASOIF members for completion by mid-January. This iteration introduces ten new indicators in addition to the 50 indicators from the fourth edition to ensure the questionnaire remains up to date and takes account of the latest evolutions in sport governance. The final report will be published in early summer 2024.
The Council agreed to hold the next ASOIF General Assembly on 9 April 2024 in Birmingham, United Kingdom, during the SportAccord World Sport & Business Summit. The Summit will bring together around 1,500 leaders and key decision makers from over 120 IFs, the IOC and sport businesses.
The ASOIF Council also received an update of the latest preparations for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The test events have kicked off and events such as triathlon, mountain bike and archery were held successfully during summer. During the last months, the Organising Committee also held a series of IF webinars on key topics like ticketing, arrivals and departures, and accreditation.
Today’s Council meeting was the first one attended by Petra Sörling, President of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), who was newly elected to the Council by the General Assembly in May 2023 and was also elected as an IOC Member during the 141st IOC Session in Mumbai, India.
The next ASOIF Council meeting will be held on 5 March 2024.