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≡ OSPELT ELECTED ≡
After an agonizing 48-minute wait for the votes in the FIS Presidential election to be counted, at the 57th International Ski Congress in Belgrade (SRB), the results showed:
● 65: Alexander Ospelt (LIE)
● 64: Johan Eliasch (GEOI) ~ incumbent
So ends a tumultuous four years with Eliasch as President, in which the FIS media rights were centralized, new programs were developed, but where the star federations in Europe and North American turned against his leadership.
Eliasch offered brief remarks of congratulations after the vote was announced, which included a slap at the International Olympic Committee:
“Well, ladies and gentlemen, it’s been a great privilege to serve you. I always said this would be a win-win outcome for me, because either I get my life back, or I win the election. So, either way I am very happy.
“Let me say this, we have achieved a lot together over these years and it will be a great shame to let that go to waste. And it is really important that everybody comes together, works together and aim higher.
“One point that I want to make and this is very important: we are an independent organization, and I did hear from many that the outside organizations, and I’ll be straight to the point – the IOC – tried to influence the outcome of today’s vote. And against this, we must stay firm, because we are an independent organization.”
Eliasch is a member of the IOC, and with his membership tied to his position as FIS President, his membership will end when Ospelt formally takes over on Friday.
Ospelt, the final, single opponent against Eliasch after three others withdrew, told reporters fter the session closed:
“There’s been some great dialogue in the build-up to this Congress and it’s been very interesting to talk to representatives from all different countries, but the result shows we’re still divided.
“I see this division as a chance, rather than a problem. My first task will be bringing unity and a common ambition to drive FIS forward together.
“There’s a lot of work to do, but I want every NSA [National Ski Association] to feel like now is a new start, that I will take all their concerns seriously and that every NSA must be treated with the same importance as any other.”
“I’ve requested that the bigger states show solidarity with the smaller states – it’s not in anybody’s best interest to just have athletes from the leading nations competing in the World Cup – and the bigger states are committed to that.”
Ospelt has been a FIS Council member since 2024 and was President of the Liechtenstein Ski Association between 2015 and 2023. He noted that one of the first challenges will be to keep Nordic Combined and the Snowboard Parallel races on the Olympic program for French Alps 2030. And then:
“We’re already looking at ways to gain additional stakeholders, investment and sponsors, in order to distribute more income to the NSAs and meet athletes’ requests for increased prize money.
“For me, it makes most sense to strengthen the disciplines where each of their audiences are. Taking China as an example, it makes most sense to take Freestyle and Snowboard Alpine events there, as the great athletes they have [in those disciplines] can enable us to put on showpiece events – showpieces we can use to broaden the interest across the whole of Asia. …
“With Alpine, there are lots of discussions going on about how to make it more attractive. We need to find the right TV format and I think we need to make the athletes more visible, work on promoting them more and turning them into stars – which is what audiences want to see.”
Eliasch was seen as authoritarian in a federation which has traditionally been more of a collection of independent interests than a centrally-controlled operation. Ospelt now has to calm the situation down and find collaborative paths with national federations, resort operators, athletes, media and others to help expand the snow-sport giant.
American Dexter Paine, at one time a Presidential candidate, was re-elected to a spot on the FIS Council.
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