27 July 2005 - ARISF President Emeritus' Address at the IOC Session in Singapore
On behalf of the five sports that were considered
for inclusion but, in fact, representing ARISF as the body for
all recognized sports, President Emeritus Ron Froehlich addressed
the IOC Session in Singapore. He worded the need for changes in
the program immediately after ASOIF President Denis Oswald had
denied any change was needed. The full text of Mr. Froehlich's
speech is included
below:
"Mr. President, IOC Executive and IOC Members.
The world is changing, evolving and moving forward at a rapid pace. Huge advances have been made in the world of communications, in the cultural life of our nations and in the world of sport.
The Olympic Movement is like all other major movements. When we keep up with changes in society we prosper and are better able to pass on our message of peace and well being through sporting endeavour.
What will the world of communications and sport be like in seven years time, in eleven years time? How will we keep the Olympic Movement in touch with that world and with the young people who are the major consumers of media and the future of each and every one of our sports?
Whether to expand the horizons of the Olympic Movement and reach out to a new and younger audience with our message of life and hope. Or to stand still, and so to become a little less relevant to their lives.
The Olympic Programme for 2012 needs to be updated, to keep in touch.
ARISF fully supports the work done by the Olympic Program Commission and the decisions taken by the IOC Executive Board to make a fair comparison between those sports that are currently on the program and the five Recognized Sports that have been short-listed for inclusion in the 2012 Olympic Games.
With the limits in place for the Olympic Programme something has to go if there is to be change.
So that's your choice. Taking all the facts into account, do each of the current sports, taken by themselves, add more to the Olympic Programme than any of the 5 aspiring sports would.
Not an easy decision to make, especially as it is easier not to change, to do nothing.
So how will you make that decision? How will you decide what is in the best interests of the Olympic Games and all the NOCs which form it. Not by taking the easy route, surely. Not by hiding from the issues. But by being objective and forward thinking.
Forward thinking by linking the past to the present and so paving the way for the future.
Forward thinking in order to spread the ethos of the Games to a new and younger constituency and so to secure the future of the Olympic vision.
ARISF therefore regrets the position taken up by the Olympic Summer Sports Federations united under ASOIF, who reconfirmed their opposition to any changes in the Olympic Program. ARISF considers that the IOC and its Executive Board have responsibility for the entire world of sport united in the Olympic Family, and therefore supports the IOC in the steps it has taken so far.
All great teams and great organisations look for constant improvement. Look to change when they are on top of their game, before there appears to be the need for change. Change when they are on top in order to maintain their position at the top. That is what makes them great, that is what keeps them winning.
Those that do not seek to renew, to make change, to look ahead and to act decisively when they are on top, when it ain't broke, eventually they lose ground, they fall behind and they find that it has indeed become broke.
In order to forestall change and improvement, ASOIF makes the claim that the Olympic Programme is a house of cards - remove one and they all fall down. Is the Olympic edifice really so flimsy?
The Programme is a mix of sports designed to collectively make the Olympic Games strong, each sport a player in the Olympic team with a specific role to play. And like any team there is always room for improvement, bringing in new and better players can only make the team stronger.
Your task today is to decide whether any of the five short-listed sports are stronger, are a better fit, than any of the sports currently in the programme.
Some would give smaller NOCs unprecedented chances to win medals, are enormously popular and reach millions of young people through their new media applications.
How many of the current Olympic sports can say this?
It is our opinion that some of the Olympic sports, when considered objectively, are far weaker than some of the sports on the shortlist. Your job, your opportunity and your responsibility is to consider this.
In making your choice you must not lose sight of the fact that the Olympic Movement is not just about putting on a group of sporting events wrapped in a well run programme. it is not about whether a particular sport should benefit from Olympic profits rather than another equally deserving sport.
It is about reaching out to the youth of the world and to all generations in order to change the world for the better through the noble pursuit of sport.
The ARISF Council considers that the decisions to be taken in the IOC session in Singapore are of historic importance to the whole world of sport as well as to the IOC and Olympic Games, since any changes in the Olympic Program according to these new procedures would allow the Games to evolve side-by-side with the actual participation figures and public appeal of different sports throughout the world.
I trust you have the courage and the vision of the great moderniser Baron Pierre De Coubertin himself, the founder of the modern Olympic movement, the man who embraced and indeed created new sports to improve the Olympic Programme in order to spread the word of Olympism.
Honoured IOC Members, Ladies and Gentlemen, the future of the Olympic movement is in your hands.
Thank you."