A sour presidential election is on its way to the navigation agency, with Kim Andersen in the challenge position of 3 rivals.
Not so long ago, the heads of the International Federation (FI) were as sure of their paintings as Santa Claus or Chico on the Moon.
Those days are over, as far as World Sailing is concerned.
As it reads this, the national member government (ANM) of the framework of government will vote in a presidential election that will see outgoing Dane Kim Andersen fight for his position with no fewer than 3 opponents.
This happens four years after the Dane defeated Italian Carlo Croce in a dramatic 52-46 election.
This made him, as one colleague put it in 2017, “the first candidate to overthrow a incumbent in the organization’s 110-year history. “
With World Sailing’s fragile finances exposed through the COVID-19 crisis, I have detected a sense that we might not have to wait that long for the second.
The existing candidate appears to be Gerardo Seeliger, a 73-year-old Spaniard who competed against Jacques Rogge, the former president of the International Olympic Committee (IIC), in Finnish elegance at the 1972 Summer Olympics in West Germany.
Seeliger is an admirer of another former IIC president, Juan Antonio Samaranch, a political master whom he mentions several times in a relatively short conversation.
When I ask him how the governing framework for a game with so many very wealthy enthusiasts can be financially requested, the 2019 accounts showed a deficit of just over 2. 5 million pounds (3. 2 million pounds and net assets at the end of the year fell to just 1. 84 million pounds ($2. 4 million / 2 million euros), it is free.
“It’s to understand, ” he said. It’s very poorly managed. I think World Sailing has done a very bad job of selling the candle in an advertising or attractive way. “
However, one facet of their platform, summarized on the World Sailing website, puzzles me: You need to “cut operating expenses, on the specific costs of the existing workplace” and “go back to or near Southampton or one of the others. five loose or cheap features to be had today “.
However, those 2019 accounts show that the organization had long-term bills under undeniable ‘non-resilient’ rents for land and buildings worth 2. 67 million pounds ($ 3. 4 million / 2. 94 million euros ) at the end of December. Would desertion be a false economy?
Negotiations on this point are reportedly very different. Now he tells me that his concept is to leave anything in London, but to move elements of the body’s operations, for example, development, elsewhere.
“I’m negotiating with Oman,” he tells me. This appeals to me, especially since David Graham, the newly installed CEO of World Sailing, worked for 11 years with Oman Sail, an initiative, as we have noted, that “aimed to revive Oman’s maritime heritage and publicize the country through navigation. “
One facet of Seeliger’s candidacy that can be considered a disadvantage, on the other hand, is only his age, which makes him too old to be a member of the IIC under existing rules.
With the pressure expanding for a radical review of the Olympic Games program, even though they were temporarily rejected on the calendar via COVID-19, some in the game could see the price of the World Sailing president inside the IAO tent, as they did then. Peter Tallberg of Finland, one of the most reputable members of all IAO members.
COVID-19 is also guilty of turning it into a virtual election, which adds to the uncertainty of what appears to be an incredibly closed contest.
With the first circular expected to last until October 16, the initial dogfight will consist of embarking on a circular of most likely involving the two candidates, which will follow, if necessary, between 20 and 23 October.
World Sailing uses a curious dating formula that turns out to offer some concepts about what’s going on.
The main conclusion that can be drawn from this is that Andersen has won fewer nominations (23) than any of his rivals, were almost tied, with Seeliger 36 to 35 by Scott Perry, an urban fresco of Uruguayan Spanish. and Quanhai Li, 58-year-old general manager of china’s National Olympic Sports Center.
However, this result merits further analysis, because, like me, Members were free to name as many or as few applicants as they wanted.
In fact, 8 Members saw compatibility in naming the entire quartet. It is a reminder of an exchange between former Indomitable Lion, Cameroonian Roger Milla, described in Simon Kuper’s groundbreaking book, Football against the Enemy. “You’re an admirer of the president, I said. ” Yes: he’s our president, ” said Milla. “When he leaves, there will be some other president whom I will admire. “
More revealing is that eight other MPs have appointed everyone, even the outgoing president, a measure that can be interpreted as a protest vote.
However, perhaps most revealing of all, when it comes only to Members who have nominated a candidate and a candidate, the following result is obtained: Li thirteen nominations; Andersen, Perry and Seeliger 12 each.
This represents only 49 of the 145 Deputies, 12 of whom would possibly not be eligible to vote, so it is far from final. But this suggests a closed result in a contest in which personal tastes seem to be decisive.
I suspect this may also be a challenge for Li, who is well positioned to go blank in Asia and perhaps in other parts of the world to come, but he would possibly have trouble attracting second-choice votes from industrialized Western countries if he manages to reach the Fluir field. This is due to the upcoming friction between the United States and its political allies and an ambitious China.
On the other hand, Li could take advantage of World Sailing’s monetary problems, if he manages to convince the electorate that he will provide new sponsors, probably from China, in today’s incredibly complicated business climate.
Their goals include that “thanks to my truly extensive business contacts around the world, I am very confident that I can provide sponsors and valuable help to World Sailing. “In 2019, the sponsorship accounted for 1. 47 million pounds ($1. 9 million / 1. 6 million euros) of the organization’s 3. 7 million pounds ($4. 8 million / 4. 1 million euros) of the organization’s operating profit.
With the race probably so tight, one key thing now may be how the electorate responds to ioc considerations about two of the candidates, Perry and Andersen. to be a confirmation of the independence of outdoor interference?
The considerations were revealed in an email to the World Sailing Electoral Commission through Ng Ser Miang, vice-president of the IAO and former vice-president of the International Sailing Federation, whose aim was to convey the comments of the IAO,” which was “not the statement of official office”.
The challenge with Perry is that he is “deprived of the right to enter the United States for undisclosed reasons. ” This, according to the email, “could be difficult for the FI to manage pragmatically. “
I discussed the issue with the Uruguayan – whose electoral platform is called “Back to basics” – in a friendly verbal exchange before the email became public, and he told me it was 2009, more than a decade ago, when he denied him the visa.
He has been a member of the World Sailing Audit Committee since 2012 and, as is clear from our discussions, the restriction has prevented him from playing a key role in controlling the governing body.
He describes, for example, how, when the first tranche of an IAO loan of $3. 1 million (2. 37 million pounds / 2. 6 million euros) was paid, to defeat World Sailing with the postponement of Tokyo 2020, he returned a few euros. 300,000 ($391,000 / $330,000) borrowed through the organization under an open line of 900,000 euros ($1. 14 million / 992,000 euros).
Besides, as he says, “one of my biggest followers is US Sailing. “
If Perry were elected, the state of the governing body’s finances would, he said, be his first priority.
“Unless we get our finances in order, nothing else will matter,” he says. “Currently, we borrow the IIC budget. It’s never a healthy scenario. “
With Andersen, the challenge is that he, in the words of the email, “has faced 3 consecutive challenges presented to the World Sailing Commission – this scenario that can tarnish [World Sailing’s reputation].
I would have liked to tell Andersen about this and some facets of his 4 years at the helm, but he refused, saying “”We had a lot of internal gaming disappointments”and “Communicating with you is a waste of time”, even if I wasn’t taking it personally. “It’s just that I’m so busy with other things that I have to prioritize,” he told me.
Personally, I am not yet convinced that he has done something extraordinary and denies doing so, he has now filed a moral complaint against Ng, who was also charged through World Sailing to intervene in the election.
The race, in other words, has acquired a bitter seal, it is a pity. Sport obviously wants a frank and physically powerful debate about how its governance framework can better capture young people’s interests while living within its means.
This lively four-cornered contest showed symptoms of offering it, despite the situations imposed by the pandemic. Let us hope that the content of this debate will not be overshadowed.
David Owen worked for the Financial Times for 20 years in the United States, Canada, France and the United Kingdom. He finished his ft career as a sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and now works as a freelancer, covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 World Cup and London 2012.
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Voting is now underway in a sour war to lead World Sailing. David Owen leads the reign over incumbent Kim Andersen and the three challengers to overthrow him.
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