The health crisis and the uncertainty surrounding the Tokyo Games have made it forgotten, but the year 2021 is elective in a large number of international sporting bodies.
Coincidence of the calendar: three international sports federations are called to vote this week for a presidential election, in just two days. Judo (IJF) started the movement. Skiing (FIS) will follow immediately. Swimming (FINA) will bring up the rear at the start of the weekend.
No bad surprises for Marius Vizer (photo above). The Romanian leader was re-elected Thursday June 3 in Budapest for a new mandate, the fifth consecutive, as president of the International Judo Federation. He was the only one in the running. It was unanimously renewed.
At 62, Marius Vizer will lead world judo until 2025, after taking charge in 2007, to succeed the South Korean Yong Sung Park.
Conversely, the battle promises to be intense for the presidency of the International Ski Federation. Voters are invited to choose their future president this Friday, June 4, the occasion of an election organized virtually. For the first time in almost a quarter of a century, a new face will embody world skiing. The Swiss Gian-Franco Kasper, in place since 1998, leaves the keys to his office. At 77 years old.
To succeed him, a woman and three men will compete for the votes of the national federations. The winner will become only the 5th president of an international federation created in 1924. He will be European, as were the first four.
The cast includes two Swedes: Mats Arjes, the current president of the Swedish national Olympic committee, vice-president of the FIS, very involved in Stockholm/Are's candidacy for the Winter Games in 2026; Johan Eliasch, CEO of the Head group. The third man is Swiss, like Gian-Franco Kasper: Urs Lehmann, downhill world champion in 1993, current president of the Swiss Ski Federation. Finally, the British Sarah Lewis, former general secretary of the body, unceremoniously removed from her post last October, aims to become the first woman to president of the FIS.
With such a choice of applicants, the ballot looks very uncertain. And the game is not easy to guess. On paper, Mats Arjes may have the best cards. Unlike his rivals, he is already in the position of vice-president. He received the support of the powerful Norwegian Ski Federation earlier this week.
Second Swede in the race, Johan Eliasch presents himself to voters as the wealthiest of the candidates. Proof of the extent of his network, he was nominated by the British Winter Sports Federation (GB Snowsport), the choice of his own country having been in favor of Mats Arjes. At 59, Johan Eliasch announced that he would immediately leave his position as CEO of the Head group if he was elected.
Sarah Lewis, a former skier selected at the 1988 Calgary Games, was nominated by the Royal Belgian Ski Federation, with Britain choosing to support Johan Eliasch. She pledged, in the event of victory, to give up a presidential salary. She also promised the establishment of a solidarity fund to compensate for losses linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finally, Urs Lehman plays the card of small nations, promising them a platform to express their expectations in the face of the all-powerful traditional winter sports countries. Its program is based on two principles: unifying countries and developing disciplines.
Saturday June 5, the election for the presidency of the International Swimming Federation promises to be much less indecisive. Only one candidate will appear before the voters to succeed the Uruguayan Julio Maglione, in office since 2009 but now aged 85: the Kuwaiti Husain Al-Musallam.
Due to lack of competition, Husain Al-Musallam will be elected for a 4-year term as head of FINA. He is already the first vice-president. He will climb one step. But his election, organized partly in person, from Doha in Qatar, partly in virtual mode, is already criticized within world swimming.
In question, the origins of the next president. Excluded from the Rio 2016 Games, where its athletes paraded under the Olympic flag, Kuwait has never had a single finalist swimmer at the Olympic Games or the world championships. The country did not even send a single competitor in other aquatic disciplines to the last editions of the Summer Games.
