24. Jan. 2006 | Panorama | von FISA

International Rowing Federation (FISA) Holds Winter Council Meeting

Members of the Council of the International Rowing Federation (FISA) met this week-end in Lausanne, Switzerland to review 2005 and to discuss future strategies for short and long-term management of the sport of rowing.

During the three days of meetings, the following main decisions were made:

  • Final approval of the 2006 World Rowing Event racing schedules. These provisional timetables for the Rowing World Cup regattas, the World Rowing U23 Championships, the World Rowing Junior Championships and the World Rowing Championships 2006 can be found on

    www.worldrowing.com.  
  • 2006 Adaptive Rowing Rules and Regulations approved including the standardisation of distance for all Adaptive Rowing Events in future paralympic Games to 1000m. The Council agreed to standardise the distance of adaptive rowing events to 1000m for all boat classes. Previously, the LTA4+ (legs, trunk and arms mixed coxed four) were raced over a 2000m distance. TA2x (trunk and arms double scull) AW1x and AM1x (womens and men’s sinlge scull, arms only) have been raced over 1000m since the introduction of adaptive rowing into the World Rowing Championship programme in 2002. These rules will be issues shortly.
  • 2008 Olympic Qualification system. The Olympic Qualification system for the 2008 Olympics was approved by the FISA Council.  It will now go forward to the IOC Executive Board for their consideration at their meeting in February. If approved, the total athlete quota of 550 (352 men, 194 women, 4 “wildcards”) will be allocated as follows:
    • 2007 World Rowing Championships, Munich, Germany: 402 athletes, 129 boats;
    • Asian Continental Qualification Regatta: 23 athletes, 17 boats;
    • African Continental Qualification Regatta: 11 athletes, 9 boats;
    • Latin American Qualification Reagtta: 23 athletes, 17 boats;
    • Final Olympic Qualification Regatta: 85 athletes, 28 boats.

    In addition, 2 places must be reserved for “home country” athletes, and 4 places are reserved as tripartite places. If these are not utilised, these places will be re-allocated by the FISA Executive Committee.

  • European Rowing Championships. The FISA Council approved a proposal to form a European Rowing Mangement Board consisting of representatives of the FISA Council and of European national federations. One of the duties of this board will be to assess the possibiliy of staging a European Rowing Championship in the near future. All European National Federations will be invited to a meeting in Munich, Germany on Saturday, 27 May 2007.
  • Appointment of new FISA Commission members.
    • FISA Adaptive Rowing Commission: Simon Goodey (GBR), Paola Grizzetti (ITA);
    • FISA Rowing for All Commission: Lionel Girard (FRA), Gwenda Stevens (BEL);
    • FISA Umpiring Commission: Stephanie Palfner (GER).
  • World Rowing Coastal Challenge. The 2006 World Rowing Coastal Challenge will be held in Guernsey (GBR) on September 3 and 4, 2006. This annual coastal rowing event will receive “Championship” status as of 2007 for clubs. The 2007 FISA Coastal Rowing Club Championships will be held in France (date and venue to be confirmed).

Decisions on Rowing World Cup venues for 2007 and 2008 were postponed to FISA’s Joint Commissions Meeting which will be held on 3 and 4 March 2006 in London (GBR).

In addition, members of the FISA Council were honoured by a visit from Dr. Jacques Roggue, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Dr. Roggue spoke to the annual gathering of 21 Council members emphasising the good collaboration of the IOC with FISA and its President Denis Oswald [also IOC Board Member and President of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF)]. He spoke highly of rowing, noting that “it is a very important sport in the Olympic movement”.

The IOC President also complimented FISA on its televisual presentation of the sport, which he described as “outstanding” and commented on FISA’s exemplary fight against doping.