(ATR) The International Rowing Federation (FISA) is holding an extraordinary congress in Tokyo this weekend to examine changes to its Olympic program.
The sport currently features 14 events at the Summer Games but will likely implement changes to provide greater gender equity for its athletes.
FISA has proposed replacing the lightweight men’s four with the women’s four while another proposal includes replacing the men’s four with the lightweight women’s four.
"We are looking forward to the discussion at this weekend’s Extraordinary Congress," said US Rowing Director of High Performance Matt Imes. "It‘s important that the position presented to the IOC tries to maintain the current athlete quota while achieving gender equity. But, the days of the Olympics being the same core events, quadrennial after quadrennial, are changing."
The congress will also determine the membership of American Samoa, potential changes to the Paralympic rowing program including race lengths and classification guidelines as well as potential changes to weight and design requirements for the racing vessels.
FISA will submit its decision to the International Olympic Committee for consideration at a meeting in May. A final decision by the IOC Executive Board is expected in July.
Written by Kevin Nutley
Forgeneral comments or questions, click here.
25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about theOlympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribersonly.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
