This page is a compilation of information which will hopefully lead us to inclusion into the Olympics. Isn't there something you can do to help?
2008 CHINA SUMMER OLYMPICS
We have two years to prepare the world, the athletes and the site for the greatest spectacle water-skiing has ever seen. We somehow need to get the world to demand water-skiing in the 2008 Olympics which will be held in China. We need to put the past behind us and move forward. We need to market what the public wants and that which we have in abundance. We need to market youth, suntans, hot bods, big smiles, the rush, the ramp, the regimen, the pain, the glory, the flesh, etc., etc.. We need to show the world how exciting water-skiing is. We need to get Chris Parrish and Regina Jacques and all the other stars of our sport on National TV, day and night. We need to place ourselves in every living room worldwide. Water-skiing is hot, it's awesome and it's time! We need to put together a marketing program and implement it. Today we stand at the threshold. On one side we have a dying sport and on the other a sport filled with vitality. The future is in our hands. Will we rise to the call or will accept defeat? We are champions all. Let us act as such!
Schnitz!
Dear Mr. Schnitzer 3/16/2006
I have been following the thread you started on the Nicholls board about getting waterskiing in as an Olympic sport. I had actually started my own investigation into the question just because I was getting a lot of questions from our club members. In order to know how to win at a game (the game being getting waterskiing into the Olympics over other sports) you have to know what the rules are and who makes the rules. Then you look at how the rules can be used to your advantage or develop a strategy to get the rules changed.
With your involvement in the sport you probably already know the information below but I thought I would forward it to you anyway. I was actually surprised I even got a response from Mr. Hill.
Anyway, I like your website. I'm a few years older than you and love to slalom ski. Unfortunately, when I was growing up the only skiing I saw was an occasional segment on the Wide World of Sports. My family did our boating on Lake Erie. Flat bottom ski boats don't work very well on the Great Lakes. Skiing in the wake/rollers of a Great Lake ore boat is also not very conducive to learning how to cut hard across the wakes. Moved to an area where there is a Ski Club a few years ago and got involved. Ran the course for the first time last September (it was only 15 off at 28 mph) but I loved it. I don't know when I've experienced a thrill of accomplishment like that. Now I'm addicted but looking at 50 years of slalom skiing all wrong. It's hard to break really old bad habits. It gives me inspiration seeing older skiers, like yourself (not that you are old ), skiing like you do.
Keep up the good work.
Dear Terry
Thank you for your email and I trust you got my response saying this would take a couple of days. My old water ski club and my Federation have asked exactly the same questions about Water Ski in the Olympics as yours – so I know exactly where you are coming from.
Utilizing a number of sources I thought it would be best to give you some history first and then bring you up to date with the report of the President of IWSF to the last World Congress in September 2005.
I think you should also be aware that we have never tried to get all our divisions into the Olympics and have been concentrating on tournament and wakeboard where we know we have the most chance. We know that if you can get one part of the sport in, then others may follow – but the important part is to just get in! Your example of diving is one such – swimming was part of the Olympics already and then diving and synchronized swimming followed without too much difficulty. So getting a foot in the door is the first objective – with any of our divisions!
Extract from IWSF History
Waterskiing representation in the Olympic Games is a quite a tragic story. Our sport was first recognized in May 1967 at the IOC Session in Teheran. Under the leadership of Franco Carraro (current IOC Executive Board member and President of the Olympic Programme Commission), who was elected as President in December 1967, a well organised campaign was started to gain entry to the Olympic Games. Waterskiing was actually accepted as a demonstration sport for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich and Kiel in Germany. The demonstration in Kiel proved to be less than impressive due to extremely rough water conditions. In1973, Waterskiing - along with a number of other sports - lost its IOC recognition but regained it in 1982. Since then the two IWSF Presidents, Bilo Oliveras (1983-1991) and Andres Botero (1992-2001), with the support of the worldwide Waterski family, made tremendous efforts to bring Waterskiing and Wakeboarding into the Olympic Games. The much publicised problem of the oversized Games has lead to the last tragic step. The 2004 Athens Organizing Committee proposed Waterskiing as their only new sport to the IOC. The IOC Executive Board rejected this choice in deciding that no new sports will be added to the Athens Olympic Games.
Extract from the IWSF President’s Report September 2002
Olympic situation
You have all received a few days ago the disappointing information from the IOC Executive Board based on the report of the IOC Programme Commission. As much as I appreciate that for the first time a serious investigation has been made I am not happy about the outcome. It appears that only marketing and media aspects are considered and that the organiser has no more saying. This is not fair for the sports which are knocking at the door but also unfair for those which will be kicked out.
Extract from the IWSF President’s Report September 2003
The best at the end: The highlight of the year were without doubt the PANAM GAMES in Santo Domingo. It was a long and difficult way to go, but thanks to a group of dedicated peoples under the leadership of Vern Oberg and Lisa St. John the venue was well prepared and ready in time for the Games. The many new Panam Games records give proof of the quality of the site. It was also good to see that that the Dominican Water Ski Federation has grown out of nothing to about 20 active skiers.
The importance to be part of these Games cannot enough be emphasised. It is the only Olympic event where Water Ski is a participating sport for the third consecutive time.
Extract from IWSF President’s report September 2005
Since 1936, sports have been regularly added to the Olympic programme. At its Extraordinary Session in Mexico in 2002, the IOC decided to fix the number of sports in the Games of the Olympiad to 28 and to systematically review the composition of the sports programme. This was done for the first time in July of this year at the IOC Session in Singapore. All Olympic sports had to go through a vote. Softball and Baseball have been out-voted. Two (Squash and Karate) out of five sports selected by the Programme Commission (Rollersport, Golf, Rugby) were submitted to a vote and both got less then 30 votes from the 102 IOC members. To qualify, 75% is required.
For the evaluation a questionnaire with 33 criteria was sent to the International Federations. To give you an idea about it have a look at some of the criteria:
· Participation of the sport in multi-sports Games (World Games, University Games, Commonwealth Games, Continental Games - All African Games, Asian Games, Pan American Games and Mediterranean Games).
· Number of affiliated National Federations (only National Federations in contact with National Olympic Committees are taken into consideration).
· Number of National Federations participating in the last 4 World Championships.
· Number of National Federations participating in the last Junior World Championships.
· Number of affiliated National Federations which organised National Championships in 2003 and 2004.
· Spectator attendance at each World Championships over the past four years
· Number of tickets sold at each World Championships over the past four years
· Number of media accreditation requests and number of media accreditation cards granted at the last World Championships.
· Written Press.- if available, number of published articles during two last World Championships
· Television coverage: TV coverage (number of countries and number of hours achieved) of the two last World Championships.
· If available, number of visits to the Federation’s official website in 2003 - daily average.
· If available, Internet coverage during the last World Championships.
· List of major sponsors from 2000 to 2003 inclusive, and the kinds of benefits which the
Federation receives from them.
· Total income from sponsorship and marketing programmes which the Federation obtained from 2000 to 2003 inclusive.
· Federation’s licensing and merchandising details.
· Income from the sale of TV rights to the World Championships from 2000 to 2003
· Number and list of countries which paid for TV rights to the World Championships held during the last 4 years.
· Steps taken by the Federation to present your sport in the most interesting and attractive manner.
· Impact which the presence of a discipline or sport at the Olympic Games has or would have on the environment.
· Existence of an environmental programme and action plan.
· Existence of sport development programmes in all five Continents from 2000 to 2008.
· Percentage of the Federation’s total budget allocated to development programmes from 2000 to 2008.
· Existence of a four-year strategic planning process for 2001/2004 and 2005/2008.
For anybody who has some inside knowledge to our sport, it is obvious that we are far behind many other sports which are already in the Olympic Games or which would like to become part of it..
A lot of work needs to be done, by the IWSF, the Regions and the National Federations to catch up and to raise our profile and image. At our Extraordinary Congress 2002 in Roquebrune we made our first decisions for changes and the Bureau and EB have continued to work on them. New strategies, especially for development will be discussed and hopefully decided now in China. It is never too late and I am fully convinced that it is still possible to catch up and to do better in the future.
Further history is available at http://www.iwsf.com/olympic.htm although this is somewhat out of date, it will give you some further information.
As you can see from the above, participation in the Olympics remains a major issue for the IWSF, however, we have to concentrate on fulfilling the list of criteria set by the IOC and at this moment are very busy trying to improve our “perceived” image.
I think everyone in the sport agrees with all the points you have made, but these no longer appear to be the “stumbling block” – other issues have now taken their place. The pursuance of a thriving World Cup is just one of the items on which we are concentrating. Plus our Development Plan highlights many other items. The plan is on the iwsf.com website.
I hope this answers your questions and if there is any further information you need please do not hesitate to contact me.
Gill
Gillian Hill
IWSF Secretary General
email - gill@wskisoft.co.uk
or - secgen@iwsf.com
Home phone: +33 (0)4947 65012
Fax: +33 (0)4947 65012
Mobile phone: +44 (0)7860 782226
-----Original Message-----
From: terry.lord@wachovia.com [mailto:terry.lord@wachovia.com]
Sent: 10 March 2006 14:56
To: secgen@iwsf.com
Subject: Water Skiing as an Olympic Sport
As president of our local Water Ski club I am constantly asked why water skiing is not an Olympic sport. I know it has been proposed for a number of Olympics but seems to get passed over in favor of other sports disciplines.
I know there are a lot of sports disciplines within the category of water skiing, i.e. kneeboarding, wakeboarding, cable wakeboard, barefoot, slalom, tricks, jump. etc. To include all of them at the same time would pose an administrative headache. Why not start with the traditional 3 event program, slalom, tricks, jump and grow from there?
I would also like to know what are the rules/guidelines for getting a new sport included in the Olympic program. Some of the guidelines I have heard are:
Media Coverage - I see more water skiing coverage than synchronized diving. How did it get in? When was the last time you saw publicity for a Taekwondo tournament?
Scoring - It seems that the scoring is simpler than figure skating . For slalom, it is speed, line length, and buoy count. For jump it is distance and there are a lot of accurate distance measuring technologies available. For tricks it is just the completion of tricks in a time limit for a fixed number of points without the "style" arbitrariness.
The boat - With the advanced speed control systems available, magnetic timing and a judge in the boat there should be little opportunity for one skier to get a competitive advantage over another due to the boat. There are video analysis tools to measure boat path to insure it is within tolerance.
The venue - That can't be an issue! With rowing, sailing, etc. being in the Olympics having a venue for water-skiing can't be an issue.
Cost - What costs? Compared to building a new arena for gymnastics or a pool for swimming the costs are trivial.
Hopefully, you can give me the answers to the questions and what can local organizations do to help convince the IOC to include water skiing in the Olympics.
Thank you
c
MESSAGE: (#15407) Re: 2008 Summer Olympics - China
<http://eclipse.nicholls.edu/cgi-bin/BBS/webbbs_config.pl?rev=15407>
AUTHOR: oldskier
DATE: Monday, 20 March 2006, at 6:35 a.m.
Reply To: (#15169) 2008 Summer Olympics - China *LINK*
Author: Steven Schn....
Date: Friday, 10 March 2006, at 8:49 a.m.
I had sent an email to Gill Hill, IWSF Secretary General, asking this very
question. His response was long but here are the main points.
1. In 2002 the IOC fixed the number of sports at 28 and and decided to review
the the sports program. It used to be that the hosting country could suggest
exhibition sports. No more.
2. In July of 2005 all sports went through a vote. Softball and baseball were
voted out. Five new sports were proposed (Squash, Karate, Golf, Rugby, and
Rollersport) and only two, Squash and Karate, were seleted to be voted on.
Both got less than 30 votes from the 102 IOC members. To qualify, 75% is
required.
3. All sports had to complete a questionaire with 33 criteria.
I'm not going to list all 33 but here are a few.
1. Income from the net sale of TV rights to the World Championships
2. Total income from sponsorships and marketing programs which the Federation
obtained.
3. If available, the number of visits to the Federations website.
4. List of major sponsors and the benefits received.
5. Television coverage: TV coverage (number of countries and hours) of the
last two World Championships.
6. Written Press: if available, number of published articles
7. Spectator attendance at each World Championships over the last 4 years.
8. Number of media accreditation cards granted a the last World Championships.
The list goes on and on. Mr. Gill ends his email with, "New strategies,
especially for developement will be discussed and hopefully decided now in
China. It is never too late and I am fully convinced that it is still possible
to catch up and do better in the future"
Schnitz 3/20/2006
I commend your efforts to have waterskiing as an Olympic sport. However I think inclusion in the 2008 Games is a little optimistic. See my post on Nichols.
With enough lobbying it may be possible for the 2012 Games in London, as little or construction has commenced yet for the Games and with a little effort world class facilities could be provided at JB Watersports at Thorpe Park, which is 30 minutes from central London.
If waterskiing cannot be an Olympic sport, then surely an Olympic effort could be made to hold a major competition here during the 2012 games.
What do you think?
Colin Cantski
Hi Steve, 3/30/2006
I read with interest your Olympics page and can confirm to have written confirmation from the 2012 bid leader Lord Coe, that all sports for the 2012 London Games have been confirmed by the IOC. This was finalised in June last year and the next discussions will occur in 2009 for the 2016 Games, so 2016 is Waterskiing's best hope.
Best regards
Jez Newby-Ricci
+44 7884 437437
+44 1727 847847
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