All Foiling Olympics

From EuroSail News #4306--1 April :

World Sailing has dropped another bombshell on plans for the 2024 Paris Olympics, with an Executive Committee submission for the 2019 Midyear Meeting that will scrap completely all current proposed boats... and usher in a new era for Olympic Sailing: All Foiling.

"It's our last hope for big television ratings" said a World Sailing Vice President who requested anonymity. "The IOC has directly threatened to eliminate sailing from the 2028 Games unless we bring in more revenue than we collect. The loss of Olympic funds would ring the death knell for our organisation. Only foiling sailing has the elements of danger and speed that will draw big audiences, particularly amongst millennials."

The pushback from the IOC was apparently triggered by the introduction of Keelboat Racing after heavy lobbying and pressure from the French. The huge costs of equipment and the expense (and low viewership) of offshore television filming were apparently the last straws for the IOC.

In a counter proposal to the IOC, and one that will certainly reverberate amongst other sports federations, World Sailing has proposed that the sailing events have title sponsorship, with a yet-to-be-determined percentage handed over to the IOC. Head of World Sailing Sponsorship Lamine Diack told EuroSall News that the split is under negotiations at an extraordinary WS Executive meeting in the Cayman Islands, hosted by bankers BCCI.

The proposed sponsor? French medical giant Sanofi, who have retained the lobbying services of Franck Cammas. "When my foot was nearly severed by a hydrofoil, the medical costs topped 7 figures... as was the spike in media coverage from the mainstream. I realized then that my injury could end up saving our sport" said the famed sailor. Grave injuries = huge media interest = big medical company profits. It's a win-win-win!

Imagine the carnage from foiling boards, cats, monohulls (the Figaro Beneteau 3 is reportedly the new proposed Keeboat) at the Paris Games. "We fully intend to rigourously enforce lifejacket requirements" said another WS official on the Medical Committee. "We need all the target flotsam possible."

sailing.org

 

Thanks for reminding me of the date.

 

Very good, Doug!

 

I blame the french intellectuals!