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FISA Extraordinary Congress Day 1: Change or Be Changed?

FISA members at the close of the Rio Olympic rowing events

Elimination of rowing from the Olympics is not a consideration, but IOC gender balance and "universal" inclusion goals are threatening the sport's position as a 14-event sport with the third largest athlete quota in the Games, FISA President Jean-Christophe Rolland told rowing federation delegates to the FISA Extraordinary Congress in Tokyo on Friday.

"What is really at stake here?" Rolland asked during remarks before debate on the proposed changes to the Olympic rowing schedule, the most controversial of which is the replacement of the lightweight men's four with a women's open four in the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

"Simply, it is the future of our sport," Rolland answered.

Rolland's remarks followed the opening of the 2017 FISA Extraordinary Congress, a two-day international meeting held immediately following an Olympic year that addresses changes to the Olympic program and the rules that govern competition.

(See row2k.com's full preview of the Congress here.)

The proposed elimination of the lightweight men's four has resulted from what FISA representatives say is mounting pressure from the IOC to increase gender equality, reduce the cost of hosting a Games, and allow room for other sports to be added to the Olympics.

Also under consideration are adjustments to the Paralympic rules, including race distance, equipment, and classification changes. Final vote on all proposed changes is scheduled for Saturday.

Any agreed-upon changes will be submitted to the IOC for approval in June. The final determination of the number of rowing events and athlete quota will depend on the IOC's acceptance of the ultimate FISA proposal, of which there are two.

The FISA Council has presented a proposal to replace the light men's four with a women's four, while a second proposal, presented and supported by Australia, China, Denmark and Switzerland, calls for the elimination of the men's open four and replaces it with a lightweight women's four. Canada had been in support of the opposition proposal, but reversed its position.

The FISA argument centers on the concern that if it does not present a proposal acceptable to the IOC as attempting to address their overall goals, then the decision will fall from FISA's hands completely, resulting in the IOC dropping events and cutting the allotment of 550 athletes.

However, the proposal to keep the lightweight men's four and add to the women's lightweight event schedule was met with vocal support from smaller rowing federations, who maintain that lightweight rowing is in some cases their only real chance at having team competing in the Olympics.

"There are a few points that I think, very fast, that we should not forget," said Luis Ahrens Teixeira, president of the Portugal Rowing Federation. "First I think if I'm a guy outside of rowing, right now I would have the impression that the lightweights are the black sheep of the family.

"We all know that is not true and I don't feel it like that," Teixeria said. "In my opinion, there is no other way to gain universality then promoting rowing in small economies, small countries."

Echoing that sentiment was Chris Perry from Hong Kong, who spoke without voicing support for either proposals but said it wanted instead to "share some observations."

"We have built our program over 30 years, from nothing, entirely on lightweight rowing, and our government and federation has made a lot of investment in developing our sport," he said. "I think we are a small example of what can be done in a small place with a small population to develop the sport.

"People have said that universality arguments are not supported because the entry in the world championships or Olympic qualifications is small. But if you look at the entries in Asian competition, you will see the largest entries by far in the lightweight event," he said. "So lightweight is very important to us."

Several federation delegates also spoke of the implications on grassroots participation in lightweight events in their countries; delegates from Asia in particular stated that they were concerned that lightweight rowing's surging popularity in the region could be stalled or reversed by the change.

Speaking for the U.S. was USRowing CEO, Glenn Merry. "We're very fortunate to enjoy great growth in the sport in the United States, with women, men, lightweights, and it's a very difficult decision to come to for the FISA proposal from the council," Merry said before asking that more information be provided about the "counter proposal" before a vote is made.

To close the day's discussion, Rolland emphasized that the FISA Council position does keep lightweights on the program while addressing their concern that the IOC has expressed an inclination to move away from weight-limited sports in all but combat sports.

He noted that the discussion of eliminating the lightweight men's four has been under review with the IOC since the London Olympics, and that when the conversation started the IOC wanted to eliminate the lightweight class events completely from the rowing program; he emphasized that the current FISA proposal keeps lightweights and should is viewed as the only solution the IOC would accept.

"We all agree that the best, most valuable and sustainable future for the sport of rowing is our top priority of FISA in the more and more competitive world of sports," Rolland said.

"And to achieve this, we strongly believe that we must keep the strongest position within the Olympic movement. And do we do that by maintaining 14 events, by keeping the lightweights in our program and as much of our athlete quote possible. This is absolutely crucial for us."

Comments in support of the FISA proposal were made along the lines that the FISA proposal has the most chance of being accepted by the IOC.

Read the full list of proposals, watch the live proceeding and read the live blog at World Rowing.