The FISA 2014 Ordinary Congress was held following the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Congress was the first chaired by new President Jean-Christophe Rolland and in attendance were Honorary President Denis Oswald and IOC Vice-President John Coates, FISA’s Continental Representative for Oceania.
NOC Presidents who are also rowers Eduardo Palomo of El Salvador, Khaled Zain El Din of Egypt, Jose Quinones of Peru, Jiri Keyval of Czech Republic and Denis Masseglia of France were in attendance.
The Congress began with reports from the President, Executive Committee Members, Chairs of the specialist Commissions and Continental Representatives. The next was the approval of the 2013 accounts and the 2015 budget.
Elections were held for several seats on the FISA Council. On the first election the delegates of the 51 FISA member federations elected Rosie Mayglothling of Great Britain as the chair of the Competitive Rowing Commission. Rosie received 71 of the valid votes cast while incumbent and member of the Executive Committee John Boultbee of Australia received 63 votes. The Congress also re-elected Mike Tanner, chair of the Events Commission; Pat Lambert, chair of the Event Promotion Commission; Tone Pahle, chair of the Masters Rowing Commission; Fay Ho, chair of the Para-Rowing Commission and Patrick Rombaut, chair of the Umpiring Commission. Jacomine Ravensbergen was electd for the first time as chair of the Women’s Rowing Commission.
The Congress provisionally attributed the 2016 World Rowing Under 23 Championships to Rotterdam, the Netherlands. As it will be combined with the 2016 World Rowing Senior and Junior Championships, the first time ever, more time was required to settle all issues around the organisation of the two events. The 2017 World Rowing Under 23 Championships was attributed to Plovdiv, Bulgaria which will serve as the test event for the 2018 World Rowing Championships.
The following countries declared their interest in bidding for the 2019 World Rowing Championships: Linz/Ottensheim, Austria; Sydney, Australia; Racice, Czech Republic and Hamburg, Germany. A few others are still working on gaining the support of funding bodies and chose not to announce their interest yet.
Presentations were made by Rémy Charmetant, director of the organising committee of the 2015 World Rowing Championships that will be held in Aiguebelette, France and by Rodrigo Garcia, Sport Director of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Jean-Christophe Rolland announced that FISA has finalised the 2016 Olympic Racing Programme which features the two eights and two single scull finals on the last day of the regatta.
Additional discussions at the Congress included consideration of the question of the maximum boat length (Bye-Law to Rule 39, section 1.1, paragraph 2). After hearing from several experienced boat builders, the Council decided to suspend the effect of the minimum length bye-law until more information on the full impact is gathered. FISA will be seeking additional facts from inside rowing and in the shipping industry to be in a better position to make a decision on this issue.
At the conclusion of the Congress several presentations were made about recent developments in FISA including: The revised FISA Strategic Plan, The Equality Strategy – Women’s Rowing Development Plan, The Universality Strategy – The Coastal Rowing and Island Rowing Strategy, The Environmental Strategy – Clean Water Project.
The 2015 Ordinary Congress will be held on 7 September, 2015 in Chambery, France just following the 2015 World Rowing Championships that will take place on Lake Aiguebelette, France.
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