Full story from Scuttlebut Europe. I am glad to see some prominent individuals and countries speaking out about the voting proceedure. This may finally cause Paul Henderson to take a break from his rhetoric and holier than though attitudes about "there was no wrong doing" with the voting proceedures.
Aussies and Danes Send Letters...
* Yachting Australia have released the submission sent to the International sailing Federation (ISAF) supporting the re-opening of the November 2007 decision on the Events chosen for the 2012 Olympic Games.
The announcement by Yachting Australia follows a similar course to that adopted by the Royal Yachting Association.
There is now the situation were the two most successful nations at the 2007 Olympics in Qingdao are now urging ISAF to reconsider the Event selection for the 2012 Olympic Regatta. Between them Australia and Great Britain won Gold medals in seven of the 11 events contested in Qingdao in the Olympic format regatta (only one entry per nation permitted).
To date, ISAF has been batting away criticism of its handling of the Events affair, however with the closing date of 15 March looming for submissions. other major yachting nations are believed to be joining the fray for a re-opening either at the May Mid-Year Meeting or the November Annual meeting. -- Richard Gladwell in Sail-world.com,
www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=42564 Yachting Australia' proposal:
That the decision recorded at item 13(d), Selection of Events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition, of the Minutes of the ISAF Council Meeting held on 8/9 November 2008 in Estoril, Portugal, based on a motion from the floor by Charley Cook (USA), be reconsidered by a meeting of the ISAF Council at the earliest available opportunity.
If, in reconsidering this motion, the ISAF Council decides that a revote is appropriate, there should be either a run off vote between:
a) Multihull (Open) and the Keelboat (Men)
b) Two Person Dinghy High Performance (Women) and Keelboat Match (Women) or the list of Events for the 2012 Olympic Regatta, as decided in Estoril in November 2007, should be set aside and a new vote taken, using the voting process as recommended by the Events Committee without the change that resulted from the motion made by Charley Cook.
The reasons given (25 of them!) can be read in full at
www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=42564 * The Danish Sailing Association has made two submissions:
That the decision on selection of Women's Events for the 2012 Olympic Regatta be reconsidered in accordance with ISAF regulation 16.1.1(b), and that a run-off vote be held between "2 person dinghy (high performance)" and "Keelboat (match Racing)" at the earliest available opportunity.
and
That the decision on the selecction of Men / Open Events for the 2012 Olympic Regatta be reconsidered in accordance with 16.1.1(b), and that a run-off vote be held between "Keelboat" and "Multi-hull" at the earliest available opportunity.
Submissions in full:
scuttlebutteurope.com/pdf/DEN1.pdf
scuttlebutteurope.com/pdf/DEN2.pdf
The Danes also focus on the process of the voting in their letter to the ISAF:
In November 2007 the voting procedure was changed in the last minute to a "4 out of 6" process. There was no suggestion or reasoning with regard to the proposal from Charley Cook, or from any other Council member, that the motion would change the fundamental principles concerning the voting procedure. Until that moment most of the Council Members was of the understanding that Council should use the same procedure as for the Events Committee, where key fundamental principle (sic) was that no Event should be eliminated until it had failed to receive 50% of the valid vote cast in the first "slate: ballot of any subsequent run-off ballot.
Their complete letter at scuttlebutteurope.com/pdf/DENletter.pdf
