Guys/Gals:
I just got ths in my email mailbox today. It help to send a comment to them!!
Sent on Behalf Of:
Doug Snell
305 Hobbs Road Apt #102
League City, TX 77573
To:
Mr. Peter Ueberroth
Chair, US Olympic Committee
1 Olympic Plaza
Colorado Springs, CO 80909
Tel: 719.632.5551
RE: Complaint against US SAILING
This complaint is being filed in accordance with the procedure described in the USOC By-Laws Section 8.1; and under the provisions of the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act (ASA).
The US SAILING Board of Directors has approved and forwarded to the International Sailing Federation a submission titled “2012 Olympic Events”. This submission proposes 6 dinghy events and 2 keelboat events, but omits any proposal of a multihull event.
Competition at the Olympic Regatta is held in a number of event categories. US multihull sailors have won Olympic medals in 4 of the 7 Olympic Regattas attended by the US Team. Multihull racing constitutes approximately ¼ of the all racing done worldwide. And, US SAILING has long recognized multihull racing as one of the core competition categories, having established:
* Youth and Adult National Championships
* A national Multihull Council, which is described as follows - “Sailors are represented by Councils & Associations of groups having common sailing interests on a national basis.”
* The Hoyt-Jolley Multihull Fund for the adult championship, and the Stevens Restricted Fund the youth championship.
1. ASA §220524(1) states that a national governing body shall “… be responsible to the persons and amateur sports organizations it represents”.
The “2012 Olympic Events” submission disenfranchises US multihull sailors and the Multihull Council. The Board of Directors has declined to act despite appeals made by phone, email, letter, and in-person by the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Multihull Council and many individual multihull sailors. US multihull sailors challenge the Board of Directors to show that it is being responsible to the persons and amateur sports organizations it represents”.
2. ASA §220524(3) states that a national governing body shall ”…reasonably reflect the views of the athletes in its policy decisions”.
The “2012 Olympic Events” submission fails to reflect the views of US multihull sailors.
The multihull class representative on the Olympic Sailing Committee was excluded from the discussions that resulted in the slate of events that was submitted to the Board of Directors for approval.
The representatives of the Multihull Council were not informed of, or consulted in regard to this pivotal policy decision.
The US SAILING Team multihull athletes, coaches, and other personnel were not informed or consulted; and learned of the submission only after it had been forwarded to the ISAF.
3. ASA §220522(a) states that an “amateur sports organization is eligible to be recognized, or to continue to be recognized, as a national governing body only if it” §220522(a)8 “provides an equal opportunity to amateur athlete… to participate in amateur athletic competition, without discrimination”.
The “2012 Olympic Events” submission discriminates against US multihull sailors. It proposes only monohull events, and thereby denies equal opportunity to US multihull sailors.
4. USOC Article VIII Section 8.1.A.2.c states “ if such remedies [available] have not been exhausted, the grounds upon which the complainant alleges that exhaustion would result in unnecessary delay;
The time required to follow the procedures required to exhaust available remedies will result in unnecessary delay and irreparable harm to US multihull sailors.
The publication by the ISAF of the US SAILING submission is immanent; and this publication will disseminate globally US SAILING’s disenfranchisement of multihull racing.
The ISAF Mid-Year Meeting, for which the submission was made, will take place from 4-6 May 2007. If the submission is not amended or withdrawn it will cause irreparable harm to US multihull sailors.
The US SAILING Board of Directors has not met its responsibilities as laid out in the ASA. The “2012 Olympic Events” submission needs to be amended to include one or more multihull events; or if it cannot be amended it must immediately be withdrawn.
Respectfully,
Doug Snell
305 Hobbs Road Apt #102
League City, TX 77573
