The anonymous piece We Suck published earlier this week contained a little tidbit you might have glossed over; the end of Paralympic sailing.
On 31 January, the International Paralympic Committee announced that Sailing got the boot from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The RYA immediately posted a statement decrying the decision and announcing their willingness to help try to reverse it. US Sailing published President Tom Hubbell’s willingness to do the same. Yet the reasons behind this big move remained largely secret – until ISAF published their own response nearly a week after the fact. As usual, ‘getting ahead of the story’ to ISAF means something different to ISAF than the rest of the world.
For those who delight in ISAF’s lunacy (and it’s been getting almost laughably dysfunctional lately), have a look at the ISAF statement. ISAF takes over the IFDS in November, and two months later, the IPC gives sailing the ease. Coincidence, or yet another example of ISAF’s ‘reverse midas touch’? You know how it works: Everything they touch turns to shit!
The ISAF Disabled Sailing Committee (IFDS) is profoundly disappointed by the decision of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to exclude sailing from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.IFDS responded in a timely and comprehensive manner to queries from IPC, with details of sailors that participate regularly in international regattas or national championships, on Paralympic boats. IFDS ensures an extensive quadrennial program of international competitions replicating the Olympic Program organized by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF), including ISAF Sailing World Cup. IFDS sanctions and organizes yearly Combined World Championships in the Paralympic classes.Development has resulted in the regular addition of new countries to competitive sailing. The process of merging with ISAF (with a membership of 139 Member National Authorities) was completed in November of 2014, with the main aim of opening a whole new field for the development of disabled sailing. During the period of pre-merging, ISAF always respected the independence of IFDS decisions. Through ISAF’s development programmes, worldwide participation initiatives and event structure, the opportunities for disabled sailing are better than ever before.
