WORDS BEDEDICT TUFNELL //PHOTOGRAPHY FISA
Nominated delegates from each of FISA’s member nations convened in Tokyo in February for the 2017 FISA Extraordinary Congress. Held once every four years, this year’s meeting was of particular significance to the sport, as it was to address the IOC’s mandate to bring gender neutrality to Olympic rowing or face a cut in athlete numbers for Tokyo 2020. Rowing is currently the third largest sport in the Olympic program with 550 participant places.
“The future of our sport is what is really at stake here,” FISA President Jean-Christophe Rollande (pictured) told delegates on the first day of the congress. IOC gender inclusion goals threaten rowing’s position as a 14-event Olympic sport, Rollande warned.