Diack, Bubka retain IAAF posts after voting confusion
Source: Agencies |
August 25, 2011, Thursday
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UKRAINE'S Sergei Bubka retained his vice presidency position of the IAAF world athletics federation yesterday after a chaotic voting session had initially eliminated the former pole vault champion.
During a day of voting - and re-voting - because of faulty electronic equipment, Lamine Diack was re-elected to a new term as IAAF president. Since he ran unopposed, it was the only clear-cut decision while voting on most other positions will spill over into today's second day of the Congress.
The federations at the Congress voted on the second attempt to give the Senegalese a 169-29 mandate for a new term.
Bubka at first seemed to be eliminated in the initial round of five candidates to determine the four positions of vice president. But after the round was annulled he survived in the next one.
Bubka moved up from fifth to fourth position to receive a four-year mandate alongside Qatar's Dahlan Al-Hamad, Britain's Sebastian Coe and Robert Hersh of the United States. Canada's Abby Hoffman was eliminated after he had tied for first in the original poll. The key vote swing from the invalid first round to the legal second had Bubka move up from 118 votes to 159 while Hoffman dropped from 175 to 122.
Amiss
Bubka was convinced something was always amiss with the electronic system.
"The system doesn't work," Bubka said. "It is clear, you can see."
The malfunction came to light when the poll for treasurer came up with more votes than there were national federations in the room. The re-vote for that post showed similar huge swings.
The IAAF decided to dump the electronic system and use written polls but faced a further setback when one copy machine also malfunctioned to further slow proceedings, leading to a seven-hour delay.
Coe, chairman of the 2012 London Olympics organizing committee, is seen as a chief rival for Bubka to replace Diack once the Senegalese retires. The new term is widely expected to be his last.
Diack said that the impact of the global financial crisis on athletics and increasing competition from sports like football are among the major challenges ahead. He told the sport's congress ahead of Saturday's opening of the world championships that "the challenges are tough."
Congress heard a financial report saying that since the previous championships in Berlin two years ago, costs had to be cut by more than 20 percent, from US$67 million to US$52 million.
During a day of voting - and re-voting - because of faulty electronic equipment, Lamine Diack was re-elected to a new term as IAAF president. Since he ran unopposed, it was the only clear-cut decision while voting on most other positions will spill over into today's second day of the Congress.
The federations at the Congress voted on the second attempt to give the Senegalese a 169-29 mandate for a new term.
Bubka at first seemed to be eliminated in the initial round of five candidates to determine the four positions of vice president. But after the round was annulled he survived in the next one.
Bubka moved up from fifth to fourth position to receive a four-year mandate alongside Qatar's Dahlan Al-Hamad, Britain's Sebastian Coe and Robert Hersh of the United States. Canada's Abby Hoffman was eliminated after he had tied for first in the original poll. The key vote swing from the invalid first round to the legal second had Bubka move up from 118 votes to 159 while Hoffman dropped from 175 to 122.
Amiss
Bubka was convinced something was always amiss with the electronic system.
"The system doesn't work," Bubka said. "It is clear, you can see."
The malfunction came to light when the poll for treasurer came up with more votes than there were national federations in the room. The re-vote for that post showed similar huge swings.
The IAAF decided to dump the electronic system and use written polls but faced a further setback when one copy machine also malfunctioned to further slow proceedings, leading to a seven-hour delay.
Coe, chairman of the 2012 London Olympics organizing committee, is seen as a chief rival for Bubka to replace Diack once the Senegalese retires. The new term is widely expected to be his last.
Diack said that the impact of the global financial crisis on athletics and increasing competition from sports like football are among the major challenges ahead. He told the sport's congress ahead of Saturday's opening of the world championships that "the challenges are tough."
Congress heard a financial report saying that since the previous championships in Berlin two years ago, costs had to be cut by more than 20 percent, from US$67 million to US$52 million.
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