Federation Leaves Sports Group: Aftermath Of The Attack On IOC Chief

The public assault on IOC chief Thomas Bach had an impactful repercussion. The consequence was the withdrawal of the Athletic’s world body from the primary international sports association. 

A dispute and a war of words broke out at the SportAccord convention in the Russian resort between the chief Marius Vizier and Bach. Vizier accused Bach of obstructing his proposition to put up and initiate multi-sports events. 

Officials confirmed that the presidents of the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) sent a prompt and swift notice to the SportAccord convention. The notice clearly stated their disappointment and declaration to leave the group in protest. 

FINA Swimming Federation’s head Julio Maglione, FIFA’s Sepp Blatter, and IAAF president Lamine Diack were some of the major chiefs among the 15 federation chiefs to comment on the act. They signed a letter criticizing and blaming Vizier’s comments at the convention where Bach was invited as a special guest. 

What Experts Say?

The IAAF president Diack says that “it’s a waste of time to come here, and it’s not worth it after seeing what it brings to us.” The chief of the International Judo Federation, Vizier, criticized Back’s unparalleled reforms of the IOC and the initiative to start a new television channel for the Olympics. 

Vizier says that “Mr President, put an end to obstructing the SportAccord strategy and let it be able to determine and organize multi-sport games.” “Every unique federation must have individual and more power over the IOC. The overall system of the IOC is wrong, outdated, unfair, and expired.” He added. He wants other sports like eSports and popular online sites like https://hellsbet.com/en-au/playup to get access to the IOC. 

SportAccord was led by Vizier ever since 2013, but the group, unfortunately, got dismantled on Monday. Before that, the group consisted of 107 international federations both related inside and outside of the Olympics. It had a progressively tense bond with the IOC as candidates were not allowed to make bid presentations at the annual convention of SportsAccord. 

Other Propositions

Vizier’s plan and proposition to hold and control a United World Games with multi-sport events have provoked the IOC, though it didn’t get approved. 

My sole intention is to safeguard the international federations’ interests and profits and enjoy an appropriate working relationship. I intend to do all these while ensuring platforms and projects increase their revenue, participation, exposure, and visibility,” says Vizier. “To get respect, you must be fair,” he said to Bach. 

Bach, who contributed to the IOC reforms and the television channel of the Olympics, unexpectedly got attacked (criticized) in public. However, the IOC president responded to Vizier’s comment ironically for his “warm welcome.” 

My intuition is that your plan and viewpoint are in revelation to you,” says Bach. He added that other sports have contributed to making “productive propositions closing up in a better correlation between the international federations and the IOC.

Finally, Bach refused to discuss any new distribution model for the IOC’s revenue. “I would be obvious with my answer; it’s a no.” The letter to Vizier was later negotiated, and the presidents of the athletic and shooting federation said that they’d withdraw soon.