Marius Vizer resigned as president of SportAccord, the umbrella body for int'l sports federations, and "delivered a defiant rebuke to the critics who forced him out after his attacks on the IOC," according to Stephen Wilson of the AP. Vizer "defended his position" and said that he was the one who" had the 'courage' to speak out as head of SportAccord, which represents Olympic and non-Olympic federations." Vizer said, "Everything I proposed is right and I hope to have opened a door that had been closed for a century, and I hope it remains open forever for the benefit of sport and its values." Vizer's departure had "appeared inevitable." About two dozen federations had "withdrawn or suspended their membership in SportAccord in protest, and Peruvian organziers had pulled out of hosting Vizer's World Combat Games" in '17. The IOC said, "We have been informed of the resignation. We will continue our ongoing work and consultation with the international federations and other members of the Olympic Movement" (AP, 5/31). REUTERS' Karolos Grohmann reported the IOC "refused to meet Vizer" until after an exec board meeting in June. Vizer: "When I emigrated from communism in 1988, I risked my life and my family's life in order to live in a free and democratic world, where one of the supreme values is the freedom of speech and of opinion. In this past month, it was proven that in the free world there are, still, higher structures where the supreme value is silence" (REUTERS, 5/31).
