World Sailing Holds Mid-Year Meeting, Votes on Olympic Alternatives

INTERNATIONAL一 The World Sailing Mid-Year meeting held May 10-14 was dominated by the vote for an Olympic event alternative to the Mixed Offshore event.

The four-day remote meeting was dominated by alternative event proposals for the Mixed Offshore Event at the Olympics in Paris for 2024 after a request was put out by the International Olympic Committee.

The Council’s final decision was to make the Men’s and Women’s Kiteboarding the first alternative and the Men’s and Women’s Two-Person Dinghy (470) the second alternative event.

The decision came 12 days before the May 26 deadline put forth by the International Olympic Committee who voiced concerns about the sailing event.

World Sailing put out the Mixed Offshore event to replace the Finn class in the 2024 Olympics before the IOC met in December.

The IOC raised concerns about the event quoting “discipline – field of play, scope and complexity, broadcast cost and complexity and the organization not yet holding an Offshore World Championship – had been indicated by its Olympic Programme Commission,” according to an April 15 article from Inside the Games.

After the IOC’s decision in early April, World Sailing put out an April 26 deadline for proposals to replace the 10th medal event.

The Council received 23 proposals and narrowed it down to 15, and settled on two decisions after a week of Committee discussion and voting.  

The Council voted on the two alternatives, ranking them by preference for the IOC’s consideration.

The Council received recommendations from the Events Committee, who voted for the 470 as the first alternative and kiteboarding as the second, and the Equipment Committee who voted for kiteboarding as the first alternative with the 470 following it up as the second alternative.

In the end, Men’s and Women’s Kiteboarding was approved as the first alternative with 33 votes in favor, two against, and six abstentions. The Men’s and Women’s 470 was approved as the second alternative with 37 votes in favor, one against, and  two abstentions.

The council remains positive about the Mixed Offshore Event and have noted that it is the preferred event but acknowledged the request from the IOC.

The IOC set to confirm the sailing program at the Executive Board meeting on June 8.

The next council meeting will be at the 2021 World Sailing Annual Conference set for the end of October in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

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