Summer Olympic sports suspended their membership in umbrella body SportAccord after SportAccord President Marius Vizer "launched a blistering attack on the IOC," according to James Ellingworth of the AP. The council of the Association of Summer Olympic Int'l Federations "decided unanimously to suspend relations with Vizer's SportAccord pending a review and clarification of its role and governance." The move came a day after Vizer blasted IOC President Thomas Bach in a speech. The summer sports association said it considered Vizer's position "not
compatible with the role and mission of ASOIF as a major stakeholder of
the Olympic movement." Track and field's governing body, the IAAF, formally withdrew from SportAccord, "as well as the international shooting federation." IAAF President Lamine Diack said Tuesday that Vizer resembled "a chief
or dictator coming from nowhere" and telling major sports federations
what to do. Diack said major sports do not necessarily need SportAccord to represent them because "'we are already organized' in other associations" that do not have a strong presidential figure playing politics. Another influential federation head, Int'l Swimming Federation (FINA) President Julio Maglione, "condemned Vizer's comments." Maglione: "What President Bach is doing has the full support of all of us" (AP, 4/21). The Int'l Paralympic Committee announced that it is withdrawing as an associate member of SportAccord following a speech made by Vizer. IPC CEO Xavier Gonzalez said, "The IOC is the IPC's most trusted long term partner and I believe our partnership is an example of best practice, highlighting how the IOC works closely with a sports organization in order to achieve the best possible outcomes. ... The IPC fully supports the work of the IOC and President Bach, a man who through Olympic Agenda 2020 is pushing through the unanimously approved reforms he promised in his election manifesto" (IPC).
