Let's go. The 58th Annual Congress of the International Skating Union (ISU) kicked off on Monday June 6 in Phuket, Thailand. No fewer than 250 delegates traveled to the Southeast Asian island for an assembly which will be marked, Friday, June 10, by the election of a new president of the body. Four candidates will compete to succeed the Dutchman Jan Dijkema (photo above), who chose not to seek a new mandate: the American Patricia St Peter, the Finnish Susanna Rahkamo, the South Korean Kim Jae-youl and the Serbian Slobodan Delić. Surprise on the first day of the congress, Monday June 6: a motion tabled by the Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation requesting the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian officials was rejected. Subject to a secret ballot, it had to receive at least two-thirds of the votes. But failing to obtain the required majority, the motion was rejected. The delegates from the two belligerent countries therefore retain their positions within the ISU.
