Dear Dick,

In agreement with WADA, any testing of athletes (in competition, out of competition or unannounced) associated with the International Triathlon Union (ITU) will be from the ITU pool of athletes or at ITU sanctioned events.

Furthermore, any testing of athletes associated with private companies who stage multisport events, i.e., Ironman, X-Terra, Powerman, will not be associated in any way to the International Triathlon Union which has no association whatsoever with these private companies or their competitions.

The ITU Competition Rules apply to ITU events only.

The private companies listed above do not comply with the rules of International Triathlon Union.

These private companies claim to be world governing bodies for their sport and as such publish their own competition rules and event management criteria. As such they do not comply with the ITU Doping Rules which are in compliance with the WADA Code.

ITU was recently sent positive tests from the Ironman competition in Kona, Hawaii. I would respectfully request that you ask your staff to redirect these tests to the “for profit” private companies concerned.

I would also ask that all of the tests associated with these private companies not be included in any results of ITU.

Thank you for your support in this matter.

Yours sincerely,
Les McDonald, President
International Triathlon Union (ITU)

The above letter was dated on the 14th of November, the same day Slowtwitch.com interviewed the ITU's executive director Loreen Barnett about news emanating from the ITU that there was a positive test at Kona. The letter reinforces the ITU's decision to scribe for itself a relatively small circle of triathlon events for which it considers itself the world governing body.

But the letter raises questions certain to trouble and confuse many in the sport, and such questions start with the first phrase of the first sentence. McDonald starts his letter by writing, "In agreement with WADA," but in an extensive investigation on doping in triathlon published this past August no one at WADA, including its chief executive officer, acknowledged any awareness of this agreement allegedly executed two years ago. While WADA's CEO, David Howman, did say to Slowtwitch that his organization does, "...not direct any International Federation to have control over events which do not fall within its jurisdiction," there is a recent stipulated settlement between the ITU and the WTC, witnessed and co-signed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, requiring the ITU to allow its daughter federations to sanction WTC events. Most would agree that, by extension, these do fall under the ITU's umbrella.

Considering the settlement mentioned above, it is curious that McDonald still claims that the ITU, "has no association whatsoever with these private companies or their competitions," as his letter states. It is a sportswide assumption that events sanctioned in good faith by an international federation's national members are by extension granted international organizational membership. The CAS-honored settlement explicity invites Ironman events into the federation system, and McDonald's letter appears in direct conflict with this.

Also curious is McDonald's repeated disparagement of "private companies." When McDonald writes that, "any testing of athletes associated with private companies who stage multisport events... will not be associated in any way to the International Triathlon Union," does he mean only those he lists, or any private companies? In his next sentence, he states, "The ITU Competition Rules apply to ITU events only," appearing to draw a small circle inside of which the ITU holds powers of governance and, for purposes of drug testing, keeps quite small the list of races his organization intends to intersect with.

The more expansive question the letter spawns is what, exactly, does the ITU govern? Does it only exclude from its governance those events listed in the letter to WADA? Or does it only govern the events where, "ITU Competition Rules apply," raced by the "ITU pool of athletes," or "at ITU sanctioned events."? Strictly speaking, the ITU does not sanction events. But there are ITU events for which this body is the "testing authority" for drug-testing purposes. Is this what McDonald means?

Judging by the statements made in August to Slowtwitch.com by the ITU's doping director, Leslie Buchanan, this much tighter list of athletes and races is the correct way to parse McDonald's comments. When Buchanan was asked earlier this year, "Would it be fair to say that the ITU is not the proper place to inquire if I'm looking for a list of suspensions of non-ITU-style triathletes?" she replied, "Yes, I would say that would be fair."

This would mean that the large gulf of events that are neither Ironman, XTerra, Powerman, Life Time Fitness, nor ITU-style events, are outside, not inside, the scope of the ITU's purview. This would be the case even though the great majority are sanctioned by their national governing bodies and have the reasonable expectation, under the IOC's federation system, of sporting membership worldwide.

Does any of this make any difference to the typical race director? As a practical matter it doesn't, under most circumstances. But it does when there is a positive drug test. In these cases, it is WADA's demand that its anti-doping labs worldwide inform a sport's international federation when a positive occurs. Accordingly, labs testing triathlon's doping samples send a copy of a positive to the ITU. But he ITU does not, it appears, consider itself the world governing body for most of the world's triathlons. Hence the letter from McDonald to Pound.

But if you're a WADA lab, which are the races that the ITU governs, and which are not? When do you inform the ITU of a positive, when not? In the case of WADA's biggest worldwide lab, at UCLA, its director, Don Catlin, appears not to differentiate. When asked last month by Slowtwitch specifically about the Ironman's test samples, he replied, "We send positive notices to the client, the IF and WADA." (IF stands for international federation, synonymous with world governing body.)

McDonald's letter to Pound notwithstanding the IOC, WADA, its labs, and each country's anti-doping authorities remain uninformed about, or unwilling to acknowledge, that much or most of the sport of triathlon is without a world governing body. But the world's triathlons have drug testing anyway, and WADA's labs test the results, and the ITU appears to get the results. McDonald asks that WADA, "redirect these tests to the 'for profit' private companies concerned," but that is not the appropriate routing according to WADA's protocol.

McDonald's letter is not the first that WADA has heard of the ITU's decision to rescind its governance role in triathlon. Slowtwitch apprised WADA and its chief executive of this fact four months ago -- two months prior to the Hawaiian Ironman -- yet the UCLA lab still appeared to have no knowledge that the ITU was not the international federation for the race. In light of this it is debatable whether McDonald's letter will generate a change in the behavior of WADA, its labs, and the anti-doping community.

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Chorus balking at shortened Long Distance Champs grows
December 5, 2006, Valyermo, CA
(Slowtwitch News Service™)

The clamour against the shortened long distance Worlds standards is growing. In a show of solidarity not seen since the early 1990s, athletes around the world are closing ranks against the ITU's decision to shorten the distances of its Long Course Championships from 4k, 120k, 30k to double the Olympic distance.

The ITU's move is seen by many of the long distance athletes as a way to provide its sprinters with a longer-distance option, but keeping it short enough so as to remain within inside their range of skill and competency. "Any World Cup-triathlete can race double olympic but for the 4-120-30 it requires very specific training," said the movement's spokesman, perennial Worlds podium finisher Jonas Colting of Sweden.

Winners of the most recent Long Course Worlds, held in Canberra last month over the 4k-120k-30k, support the petition according to Colting. Torbjörn Sindballe and Bella Comerford, men's and women's winners, are among the signatories, which include the names below. The petition is now on the Triathlon Professionals website managed by German pro Olaf Sabatschus, and more names are being added on a regular basis, says Colting.

Jonas Colting	Sweden	Cyrille Neveu	France
Marino Vanhoenacker	Belgium	Kieran Doe	New Zealand
Gerrit Schellens	Belgium	Stephen Sheldrake	New Zealand
Chris Brands	Belgium	Jasper Blake	Canada
Stijn Demeulenmeester	Belgium	Alejandro Santamaria	Spain
Petr Vabrousek	Czech Republic	Cristina Azanza	Spain
Jan Wainer	Czech Republic	Marcel Zamora	Spain
Heidi Jesberger	Germany	Belinda Halloran	Australia
Torbjörn Sindballe	Denmark	Bella Comerford	GBR
Lisbeth Kristensen	Denmark	Stephen Bayliss	GBR
Timothy Marr	USA	John Hirsch	USA
Rachel Sears	USA	Jim Vance	USA
Joseph Zemaitis	USA	Tony O´Hagan	New Zealand?
Ruthy Vesler	USA	Joanna Zeiger	USA
Martina Dogana	Italy	Gordon Henderson	Canada
Meneule Ianesi	Italy	Nicolas Hemet	France
Patrick Vernay	France	Greg Bouttier	France
Herve Faure	France	Timo Bracht	Germany
Sebastian Berlier	France	Raynard Tissink	South Africa
Xavier Le Floch	France	Kim Loeffler	USA?
Johanna Daumas	France	Kim Visby	Denmark
Gilles Reboul	France

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ITU to "distance" itself from ultra racing?
August 15, 2006, Valyermo, CA
(Slowtwitch News Service™)

A proposal to shorten, and formalize, the official ITU Long Distance Championship is an action item on the ITU congress agenda next month. A resolution to fix the distance at double the Olympic distance will be the subject of a vote in three weeks at Lausanne, Switzerland.

The resolution states that, "The ITU Long Distance Championships will henceforth be double the ITU Olympic Distance event i.e., 3km swim x 80km cycle x 20km run."

Should the second of ten congress resolutions pass, it is unknown whether the change will take effect for next year's July running of the world championship race in Lorient, France. That Lorient event is annually contested at distance considered typical for ITU Long Distance Worlds, the 4k swim, 120k bike, and 30k run first popularized by the Nice Triathlon prior to its conversion to Ironman distance.

The new ITU long distance would convert to imperial distances of 1.8mi swim, 50mi bike, and 12.4mi run, with a longer swim and a shorter bike/run than a half-Ironman. This new long-distance route would be completed roughly 14 minutes faster than half-Ironman, and this would be the longest championship event the ITU would sanction and bless.

When coupled with another resolution to be considered at Congress, this will be viewed as an effort by the ITU's executive board to segregate itself from all longer-distance eventing. Resolution 10 is that required by the CAS-anointed settlement between the ITU and the WTC, whereby the ITU withdraws its worldwide ban on Ironman sanctioning imposed on its daughter federations.

While this resolution ends with the statement, "Therefore be it resolved that this Congress recognize that the Gamagori Resolution No1 is hereby rescinded," its language contains unvarnished disdain for the WTC:

"Whereas the signature of the settlement agreement by ITU should not be interpreted by ITU members as a new partnership with WTC."

While this language carries no weight, the following clause in this resolution is more potentially impactful:

"Whereas the ITU Executive board strongly cautions its members about the safety of events which are longer than those recognized by the ITU, and which do not have clear anti-doping policies in conformity with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)."

No evidence, or study, or rationale behind this health claim accompanies the resolution. Clearly, those national federations hosting and sanctioning Ironman-distance events will have to take a side. They cannot vote in favor of this resolution and look an insurance company in the eye.

There is an irony behind the resolution's statement that WTC has no "clear anti-doping policies in conformity with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)," when in fact WTC is one of the very few race organizations around the world that is listed on WADA's website as having adopted WADA's code. Furthermore, it was the ITU that took the unprecedented step, in 2004, of orphaning a large swathe of the triathlon world (see related story), specifically excusing itself of any WADA responsibilities.

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McDonald wins close bid for ITU presidency

June 28, 2002, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Olympic triathlon’s grand old man, Canadian Les McDonald, has been reelected by a vote of 40-33 over Englishwoman Sarah Springman, and remains as president and head of the International Triathlon Union, triathlon’s world governing body.

Springman represented the best bet to unseat McDonald in three Congresses stretching back eight years. Indeed, one element in his win four years ago in Perth, Australia, was his vow not to seek another four-year term. Last year McDonald went back on this promise, angering many in the triathlon community and leading to a Springman bid that fell just short.

McDonald’s reign will mean a rocky relationship between the ITU and USA Triathlon, America’s governing body. The U.S. federation publicly backed Springman's candidacy, angering McDonald according to one ITU executive committee member. Included in the Congress business was a rebuke levied against the U.S., carried by a 38-22 vote, in which the U.S. was chastised for granting a sanction of the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon. The Twin Cities race, popular with pros and age group athletes alike, has been characterized by McDonald as a sexist event (women and men vie for a single prize purse, with women given a head start). McDonald’s beef with this race traces back to a scheduling conflict with the Corner Brook Triathlon, an ITU World Cup event, and McDonald’s jeremiad against Life Time Fitness is seen by many insiders as simply an attempt to settle the score with America for allowing an event to occur that competes with a race close to McDonald’s heart.

Language in the resolution indicated that ITU may apply censure, but has not chosen to do so. It is considered likely that USAT would appeal such censure to the Court for Arbitration for Sport, and would likely win. Hence, no punitive action was taken against USAT.

A casualty of McDonald’s candidacy is the last of McDonald’s associates from the early era of the ITU. Secretary General Mark Sisson, the lone American multisport politician McDonald likes, and the last one who liked McDonald, stood down in his bid to retain his office after McDonald quietly decided to back Australian Bill Walker for the post. McDonald is rumored to have sacrificed his long time friend and ally when Sisson refused to jump on the anti-USAT bandwagon.

Americans who previously held positions at ITU were defeated, and those who ran for new office did not win. Mike Highfield was not reelected to his post on the Credentials Committee, USAT president Brad Davison also lost in an attempt to serve on the same committee, Steve Locke lost in his bid for a spot on the Executive Committee 39-31. However, American Jill Newman, a Colorado attorney and former elite athlete, won a slot on the Women's Committee, and Doug Hiller was by default a winner to be on the Medical Committee, as all candidates then equaled the number to be on the committee.

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ITU gives "Prestige Status" to Corner Brook

June 28, 2002, Vancouver, BC, Canada (First reported in TriBiz Reader):

A date conflict with a new American race has prompted the International Triathlon Union to award "prestige status" to its World Cup stop in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada next month. That means triathlon's governing body is offering competitors a greater number of valuable world ranking points, ultimately needed for Olympic qualification, if they choose the Canadian race over the fat prize purse on offer the same weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon.

The races come into conflict on the weekend of July 20-21, with the Lifetime race set for Saturday, July 20, and Corner Brook set for Sunday, July 21. The Lifetime race, new to the calendar this year and offering one of the richest prize purses in the sport, is a tempting cash prize for Olympic-distance specialists. It'll be conducted over a .75-mile swim, 21.3-mile bike and 4.9-mile run. The Corner Brook race is a popular stop on the ITU World Cup circuit, with its testing, hilly bike and run courses. It offers a $60,000US prize purse and, according to the ITU website, will charge no entry fee for World Cup entrants.

In its monthly update posted on the ITU website at http://www.triathlon.org, the ITU said it is concerned about the start format at the Lifetime race, which has a nearly $180,000 prize purse on offer, and the fact that the race is draft-illegal. "ITU was initially informed by USAT [USA Triathlon] that they could control the invitations to the event they sanctioned and that no World Cup athletes would be involved," the update said. "ITU is also very concerned about the lack of Olympic format racing in the USA, and that it is illegal under USAT rules. The event they have sanctioned in direct conflict with the Corner Brook ITU World Cup is draft illegal and will be of a format from the ‘dinosaur age' as the women are being set off a few minutes ahead then the men sent off to ‘hunt' them down. Prize money is very top heavy and violates ITU's historical policy on equality of awards in terms of amount and depth."

The points now on offer in Corner Brook, ironically raced over a hard, hilly course that tends to reward strong individual performances, are as follows: first place, 750 points; second, 695; third, 642; fourth, 594; fifth, 549; sixth, 509; seventh, 470; eighth, 435; ninth, 402; tenth, 372. Points go down to 50th place.

By contrast, a typical World Cup stop now offers athletes the following points structure, according to the ITU website: first, 500; second, 463; third, 428; fourth, 396; fifth, 366; sixth, 339; seventh, 313; eighth, 290; ninth, 268; and tenth, 248. The quality of the field can increase ranking points on offer by up to 20 percent.

For more information, visit the ITU website at http://www.triathlon.org.

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Double points at Corner Brook?

June 25, 2002, Vancouver, BC, Canada (First reported in TriBiz Reader):

Muffled grumbling about next month's Corner Brook ITU World Cup and Lifetime Fitness Triathlon weekend has been heard inside the short-course camp all spring long.

The races come into conflict on the weekend of July 20-21, with the Lifetime race set for Saturday, July 20 and Corner Brook set for Sunday, July 21. The Lifetime race, new to the calendar this year and offering one of the richest prize purses in the sport, is a tempting cash prize for Olympic-distance specialists. And the Corner Brook race is a popular stop on the ITU World Cup circuit, with its testing, hilly bike and run courses.

It's no secret that International Triathlon Union executives are conflicted, because they very much want to preserve and husband the Corner Brook (Newfoundland) World Cup event, and cannot afford for a race they've nurtured to weather a bad pro turnout. Yet it's undeniable that the $180,000 offered by the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon in Minneapolis will afford certain ITU athletes a handsome paycheck. What to do?

The ITU's president, Les McDonald, thought he'd found an answer, which he announced at the last World Cup stop in Gamagori, Japan: award double points at Corner Brook.

While this would not cost the Canadian race more money (Corner Brook would still be offering a US$60,000 purse), it would cause ITU athletes to think twice about attending the Lifetime Fitness race. Why are double points at one race important? Because points not only determine who will be among those athletes allowed to enter World Cup events, and eventually who will be eligible for the next Olympic Games, they may well determine the number of entrants a country is able to send to Athens.

This has certain athletes crying foul--especially the Americans, who are the most affected inasmuch as a great number of them had intended to race at the Lifetime Fitness event. American elites also derive their USA Triathlon funding based in part on their ITU world ranking, which is of course determined by total points earned.

The ITU has yet to make much noise about the double-points tactic (we can't find it on its website as of today), and that may be because the organization is still working out how to swing the deal. Sources inside the U.S. camp bring up the fact that the International Olympic Committee must approve in advance every sport's Olympic qualification system, including the one currently in place. (The qualification criteria can be found on the ITU's site at http://www.triathlon.org.) But we've also learned that the IOC has only wanted to know the broad strokes, and has begged off exercising authority over the minutia of the ITU's world ranking points.

If there is to be an arbitrary doubling of Corner Brook's points, the ITU appears to believe that its Executive Board has the constitutional right to make that happen. Les McDonald is only one member of that board, however, and the board at large is, we understand, busy wrestling with this one as we write.

Stay tuned.

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Excerpts from the Vancouver opinion

January 28, 2002, Vancouver, BC, Canada (www.slowtwitch.com):

For those who are interested in such things, Slowtwitch has distilled the written opinion of the British Columbian court from its original 7500 words to 1500 words below—those which we think contain the essential elements. This court case, brought by seven federations against the ITU, is explained in several stories printed herein over the past two years, and are all contained in the "Olympics/ITU" section. The outcome of the case was covered in the story just below the excerpts.

From the opinion of The Honourable Madam Justice K.M. Gill, paragraph numbers are those from the opinion. The "petitioners" are those federations sympathetic to Erika Konig-Zenz who brought the case against the McDonald-led ITU, the "respondants" refer to McDonald and the current ITU governance (aka the "Unity Slate"):

[12] In the present case, the petitioners must show substantial irregularity calculated to effect the result of the election. If irregularities calculated to affect the outcome are proven, it is for the respondent to demonstrate that they did not, in fact, effect the outcome. Otherwise, the election will be set aside.

[14] I do not propose to deal with each of [the petitioners'] assertions. ...the objection must be something substantial, something calculated to affect the result of the election. An election is not to be upset because of trivial acts or omissions and it does not follow that any mistake invalidates an election.

[15] Whether anyone acted in an unseemly manner during registration cannot, in my view, be substantial. Nor do I consider it useful to debate whether altering the order of the agenda is in breach of the constitution...

[16] The alleged irregularities to be addressed will therefore relate to three matters - the composition of the executive board, the delegate folders and the exclusion of delegates representing certain national federations.

Composition of the Executive Board

[22] Although Ms. Konig-Zenz has also deposed that the regional representatives who sit on the executive board are not included for calculating the number of women who must be elected, she does not state why. There is nothing in the resolution or constitution which would seem to support her belief that the 20 percent requirement relates to 11 board members. The resolution did not refer only to those individuals directly elected to the board.

[23] I conclude that the executive board consists of five table officers, seven members elected at large and the five regional representatives. The resolution passed at the ITU congress was that the executive board should be composed of at least 20 percent opposite gender. The 20 percent must therefore relate to the 16 positions on the board. I agree with the respondent that the requirement has been met. The regional representative for Africa was also elected as a member at large. Therefore, three of 15 individuals on the board are women or four of 16 positions are filled by women.

The Delegates' Folders

[25] It was argued on behalf of the petitioners that the folders received by the delegates upon registration included materials which are relevant to the issue of the fairness of the elections. Ms. Konig-Zenz described certain of these materials as inflammatory and improper. She deposed that there was no opportunity for any candidate not part of the Unity Slate to insert material into the folders. The materials included endorsements for the Unity Slate, positive assertions about Mr. McDonald and commentary from individuals suggesting negative consequences would follow were Mr. McDonald not elected. A document stating that an opponent of the Unity Slate had been convicted of criminal conduct was placed on the delegate's tables, although it is not known who is responsible.

[27] Although the contents of the delegate folders were described in the written argument of the petitioners' counsel as an irregularity, during submissions, it was clarified that this was put forward merely as background. I will therefore treat it as such.

Exclusion of Delegates

[28] The argument of the petitioners is that delegates from a number of national federations (Ecuador, Estonia, Peru, Poland, Chile, Cuba, Ireland, Netherlands Antilles, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela) were wrongly denied delegate status and entry to Congress 2000 and were thus unable to vote.

[29] Counsel for the ITU agreed that delegates from Poland and Estonia ought to have been admitted, although it is argued that what occurred was merely an error. The ITU argues, however, that purported delegates from a number of national federations were properly denied entry as they were proxies. The policy of the ITU, which was known to these national federations, is that voting by proxy is prohibited.

[33] I will deal first with the petitioners' argument that the executive board did not have authority to make these decisions.

Although Mr. McDonald purported to act under the authority of Section 5.5(b), that section refers to the period between congress. The petitioners argue that the powers of the credentials committee were usurped. I agree. The credentials committee did not examine the credentials of each delegate or verify the authenticity of credentials, the duties set out in the constitution. It is nevertheless the exclusion of delegates that is of importance.

[42] I turn next to the question of whether delegates were improperly excluded. The argument of the petitioners is that delegates representing Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Ireland and the Netherlands Antilles were residents of Australia and Venezuela was represented by David Rudd, a Canadian, and all were wrongly excluded. Two reasons were given. They were excluded because accreditation documentation appeared to be falsified and because it was concluded they were proxies.

[53] The positions of the parties may be summarized as follows. The position of the petitioners is that in the case of a collective, there is a distinction between a representative and a proxy. As there was no requirement that delegates be a member of a national federation or a resident of that country, persons present on behalf of a federation are properly described as delegates not proxies. The prohibition against proxy voting precluded a delegate of one federation from voting, as proxy, on behalf of another. It did not and could not apply to delegates voting on behalf of the federation they represented.

[54] On behalf of the respondent, it was argued there is a distinction between a delegate and a proxy holder. It was said that Section 10.8 of the constitution provides that parliamentary questions not contained in the constitution are to be decided by Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised and the distinction can be ascertained from those rules.

[56] I agree, however, that it is useful to have regard to the distinction between representatives or delegates of an organization and proxies. That leads to the argument of the respondent.

[63] Returning to the arguments of the parties, I do not accept that because there are no prescribed qualifications for delegates, any individual chosen by a federation to attend congress is a delegate rather than a proxy. In my view, an individual who is picked for no other reason than their presence in the city in which the meeting is to be held and whose sole purpose in attending is to cast a vote is, in these circumstances, a proxy. To that extent, I accept the argument of the respondent. Mr. Stapleton, however, cannot be characterized as such and in my view, he was improperly excluded.

[64] Whatever the merits of this argument as it relates to Mr. Rudd and Ms. Robson, I cannot conclude that they were wrongly excluded. I have already referred to the confusion surrounding the Netherlands Antilles delegate. I frankly do not know what to make of the situation as regards Mr. Rudd. The nature of the allegations going back and forth are such that, in my view, no conclusions can be drawn.

[65] In summary, delegates from Ireland, Estonia and Poland ought to have been admitted. As it was admitted on behalf of the respondent that errors were made in respect of Estonia and Poland, they have not been addressed in detail. It is appropriate to comment, however, that a practice has developed at congresses whereby the affiliation provisions in Chapter 3 of the constitution have been ignored. This was acknowledged during argument. Accordingly, to the extent that affiliation became an issue, it ought not to have been selectively applied.

[66] The final questions are whether these irregularities were calculated to affect the result and if so, can it be concluded that they affected the outcome. From a review of the voluminous materials filed on this application, it is apparent that the camps had become extremely polarized and that emotions were running high. Counsel for the respondent described the events that took place on the eve of congress as extraordinary and in some respects, I agree. I go so far as to say that the business of any association ought not to be conducted in such a confrontational and devisive manner.

[68] It is most unfortunate that matters could not be resolved in a more calm and rational way. It is also regrettable that the parties were unable to come to a resolution of issues as between themselves, something which I understand was being attempted in recent months.

[69] Evidence has been given that the winner of the election received approximately 15 votes more than the loser. While not determinative, it is evidence to be considered.

[70] In the end result, I cannot say that the irregularities found were calculated to affect the end result in the sense described in the authorities. In any event, in all of the circumstances, I conclude that they did not produce the end result.

[71] The petition is therefore dismissed.

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Anti-ITU faction dealt double blow in Vancouver and Paris

January 27, 2002, Paris, France (www.slowtwitch.com):

A bitter dispute that had divided the European Triathlon Union was brought to some closure during the weekend in Paris, when an extraordinary congress of delegates voted to retain president Didier Lehenaff of France and oust Austria’s Erika Konig-Zenz, its secretary general.

A new executive board was elected to serve out the rest of this year’s term, with Konig-Zenz replaced by Dragana Pavlovic of Yugoslavia. Delegates also voted to expand the executive board to 11 seats and guarantee that two would be set aside for women.

A smoldering feud had erupted within the federation in November when Konig-Zenz called a hastily convened email vote of the ETU’s executive board, and Lehenaff was dumped via a 1-0 vote of no confidence. He appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and CAS set aside what Lehenaff has called the world’s first "email coup" pending the outcome of the Paris meeting. CAS said that since the full ETU congress elected Lehenaff, only the full congress could unseat him.

The Paris congress was chaired by Dr. Sarah Springman, the former vice president of the ITU and an honorary member of the ITU, and was attended by several ITU officers and board members. The new board consists of the following members:

President: Didier Lehenaff (FRA)
Vice president: Dr. Suzanne Baur (GER)
Secretary general: Ms. Dragana Pavlovic (YUG)
Treasurer: Paulo Alves (POR)
Executive Board:
Ms. Ria Damgren (SWE)
Ms. Marisol Casado (ESP)
Kristof Piatovski (POL)
Gergely Markus (HUN)
Angelo Bonitzi (ITA)
Ms. Irena Chukanova (BUL)
Peter Coulson (GBR)

During the weekend, several letters were circulated by members of the pro-Konig-Zenz faction claiming the Paris congress was illegitimate and lacked a quorum. While only 21 of the 39 members voted, it appears that delegates for several of the countries sympathetic to Konig-Zenz boycotted the congress. This has led to questions about whether the peace among triathlon’s governing bodies will be a lasting one.

Also in Paris, the ETU reached an agreement with the ITU to award the European Championships to Gyor, Hungary, and to elevate that race’s status to that of an ITU regional qualifier. It will offer three qualifying spots apiece for men and women for the ITU’s World Championships in Cancun and "regional" world ranking points.

But that wasn’t the only news on the International Triathlon Union front. On Friday in British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver, Madam Justice Kirsti Gill ruled in favor of the International Triathlon Union in a lawsuit brought by seven member federations against the ITU, according to online reports. Those countries had questioned the legitimacy of ITU President Les McDonald’s re-election at the Perth Congress in 2000 and had sought to set aside the results of that election and order new ones. The case was heard 14 months ago.

All seven of those countries’ delegates were excluded from the Perth congress and had been expected to vote for Konig-Zenz in her bid to wrest the ITU presidency from McDonald. (As of Friday, four of the seven countries remained as petitioners.)

McDonald won that vote in Perth and with it another four-year term. The judge’s opinion indicated that while some of these countries were wrongfully excluded from that congress, the outcome would’ve been the same.

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Olympic Triathlon lives to fight another day

December 12, 2001, Lausanne, Switzerland (www.slowtwitch.com):

News reports from Europe indicate that triathlon is no longer on the edge of the Olympic precipice. Reports from the Associated Press widely covered in North American publications quote the IOC's head, Jacques Rogge, as saying, "I am glad to report that the problems we had acknowledged... are on the way to being solved."

Privately, ITU officials were confident going into the meeting in Lausanne that triathlon did not face the ultimate Olympic punishment: getting dropped from the program. But there was concern going in. In fact, one person close to the ITU to whom Slowtwitch spoke says that the ITU's meeting with IOC executive board members only went so-so. But the ITU appears to have gotten what it wanted: both an indication that triathlon would not be dropped from the Athens program, and public reassurance from Rogge that triathlon was still a solid member of the Olympic family.

As to the latter point, the ITU voiced concern that public statements by Rogge and Gilbert Felli, the IOC's sports director, served to undermine triathlon's ability to generate sponsors. It remains to be seen how much damage if any Rogge's and Felli's previous comments caused, and how much that damage might have been mitigated by today's reassuring statements.

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And then there were four

December 5, 2001, Vancouver, BC, Canada (www.slowtwitch.com):

After the Perth Congress in 2000, in which Les McDonald defeated Erika Konig-Zenz for the ITU presidency, seven national triathlon federations filed suit in court in Canada, asking that the election results be voided because they were not allowed the right to vote. As has been covered in Slowtwitch, the court still has not rendered a verdict.

But the petitioners are falling away, one by one, and four remain (it was previously incorrectly reported in Slowtwitch that only three remain).

The Honduran Triathlon Federation dropped off the suit early on. More recently the DTU (Germany) and Cook Islands withdrew their petitions. It was widely expected that the DTU's election to withdraw would spell doom for the remaining petitioners, but that has not been the case. The other four are still being represented by Chris Wilson of the Vancouver, B.C., firm of Bull,
Housser & Tupper.

These four are the national triathlon federations representing Ireland, Poland, Venezuela, and Costa Rica. It is also rumored that Poland is ready to withdraw, but these rumors eminate from sources sympathetic to the ITU and are denied by those sympathetic to the petitioners.

Costa Rica is an interesting case in point. Its federation's president, Guillemo Saenz, has been a thorn in the side of the ITU. Triathlon's world governing body thought it had the Costa Rican issue dealt with, because neither it nor Costa Rica's National Olympic Committee recognized Saenz' organization (a different, newer, rival national federation represented Costa Rica in the Edmonton congress this past year).

Sources close to the case told Slowtwitch that Costa Rica took its NOC's decision to pull its recognition to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, and won. But that's not quite true. Saenz did seek redress from CAS on two counts: its case against the ITU and against its own National Olympic Committee. Les McDonald would not agree to CAS arbitration on the first point, arguing that the Costa Rican petitioner must choose: either sue us in civil court or seek CAS arbitration, you can't do both. As to the Costa Rican federation's case against its own NOC, the CAS spokesman, Matther Reeb, said that this issue has not been addressed by CAS. So as it now stands, the Costa Rican federation is still a litigant in the suit, but it appears to be a federation that no relevant governing body currently recognizes.

Slowtwitch has not been able to reach the head of the Costa Rican National Olympic Committee for comment.

That leaves Ireland and Venezuela. Perhaps significant is that the chief complainant for Ireland is Ron McKnight. Late in November, however, the slate of officers was announced by the Irish Triathlon Association and McKnight is no longer its president. Slowtwitch has not been able to reach anyone at the federation to see if the change in officers will presage a change in its posture toward the suit.

Venezuela has, or doesn't have, a national federation at all, depending on who you talk to. Everyone on the side of the McDonald-led faction of the ITU believe the Venezuelan federation is simply a front for Vancouver-based businessman David Rudd. They further allege that Rudd only who provides the financial punch for the lawsuit. It was Rudd who was not allowed into the Perth Congress as a representative for Venezuela.

The ITU clearly hopes that the litigants will continue to melt away one-by-one. Rudd is by all accounts determined and, like McDonald, tough as nails. (Interestingly, like McDonald, Rudd is an English emigre to Western Canada.)

Chris Wilson, lawyer for the petitioners, will not say––citing confidentiality––whether Rudd is his chief client in the matter of the four petitioning federations, nor whether the funding behind the suit comes mostly or entirely from Rudd. But he does contend that he represents each of the four distinct petitioners, and believes that they all have a valid case.

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ITU to present its case

December 3, 2001, Lausanne, Switzerland (www.slowtwitch.com):

The IOC executive board is set to meet on Tuesday, December 11, and several ITU mucky-mucks will be there in person. ITU execs will not meet with the IOC board, but it is anticipated that their leaders, Gilbert Felli and Les McDonald, will sit down together before the IOC board meets.

Felli is the IOC's sports director, and statements attributed to him and reported in the press have both alarmed and bewildered triathlon governing body officials. Also not topping the charts of triathlon's most favorite public comments are those recently made by Francois Carrard, IOC director general. Both gentlemen have made comments that––intended or not––have served to cast doubt on whether triathlon will be included in the Olympic program in Athens.

McDonald, president of the International Triathlon Union, will therefore be traveling to Lausanne to speak with Felli hoping, say ITU sources, to persuade him that the squabbles inside triathlon are not unlike those that spring up in all sports federations.

Sources also tell Slowtwitch that the ITU may, on behalf of itself and its daughter federations, ask for some sort of statement from the IOC that reverses damage that may've been done by the statements by Felli and Carrard.

"Articles which have recently come out in the press make it harder for organizations like ours to attract sponsors and grant money from our national Olympic Committee," said Steve Locke, executive director of USA Triathlon. "Who'd want to give money to an Olympic federation if it's in danger of not being in the Olympics?"

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Usually solid ETU rocked by division

November 30 , 2001, Vista, California (www.slowtwitch.com):

Over the past week-and-a-half the six-year president of the European Triathlon Union, Frenchman Didier Lehénaff, has become ex-president of Europe's regional federation and then president again. It wasn't because he left and then changed his mind. Musical president's chairs have taken place because of an attempted coup by The ETU's secretary general Erika Konig-Zenz.

Problems with this usually rock-solid European federation have been brewing during the month of November, but the players have been involved in intergovernmental conflict since the Perth Congress in 2000. Konig-Zenz was backed by most of the ETU in a bitterly-fought battle for the presidency of triathlon's world governing body, the International Triathlon Union (ITU). Konig-Zenz lost the election in Perth to sitting president Les McDonald, and six national federations filed suit against the ITU in Canadian court alleging what amounts to election fraud. (Three of the six federations have since dropped out of the suit, and two more of the remaining three are rumored to be considering dropping out).

Konig-Zenz was backed in Perth by Lehénaff, and it's not entirely apparent why this recent very serious falling out has occured. The end result, however, was an email vote called by Konig-Zenz earlier in the month. Only one of the five-person ETU executive board voted, and by that 1-0 vote Lehénaff lost the vote of "no confidence." Konig-Zenz installed Jef Konings of Belgium as "interim ETU president.

Lehénaff would have none of it. He appealed to the Court for Arbitration of Sport in Lausanne. CAS is commonly referred to as the Olympic Court. Though not formally connected to the IOC, its judgements are generally considered binding by sports federations.

CAS provisionally gave Lehénaff back his president's chair, and issued this statement:

Didier Lehénaff, President of the European Triathlon Union (ETU), removed after a vote taken on 7 November 2001 by the ETU Executive Board, has been provisionally reinstated by the CAS. In an order pronounced today, the CAS upheld the request for a stay and for interim relief filed by Didier Lehénaff asking that the decision of the ETU Executive Board of 7 November 2001 not be applied until the end of the arbitration procedure.

Didier Lehénaff had been removed by the Executive Board further to a vote requested by the Secretary General of the Federation, Mrs Erika König-Zenz, who cited persistent disagreements with the President. The Secretary General thus submitted a motion of no confidence to the five members of the Executive Board. After this vote, the Secretary General announced the following result: one vote in favour of the Secretary General, one spoiled vote and three abstentions. The Secretary General then officially confirmed the removal of Didier Lehénaff, and announced that a new President would be appointed shortly.

In its order, the CAS held that, pursuant to the ETU Constitution, any decision to replace the President of the Federation was a priori the responsibility of the organ which had elected him, namely the Congress. Accordingly, at this stage of the proceedings, the CAS considers that the decision challenged by Didier Lehénaff could not validly be made by the Executive Board but only by the Congress.

The proceedings before the CAS will continue, and a final decision will be given by a Panel of arbitrators appointed in accordance with the CAS Rules.

Lehénaff has accordingly called for an extraordinary congress of the ETU in January, at which time it is presumed that the matter would be settled by a vote of the entire ETU electorate.

The saga is not without its irony. Konig's tactics in dealing with Lehénaff are not entirely unlike those leveled against those Konig's supporters have leveled against McDonald, in his battle with Konig at Perth.

Below is the text of Lehénaff's latest communique to the ETU members.

Dear triathlon friends,

You have all heard rumours or read pieces of news stating that I was no more the president of ETU, and that a president by interim had been nominated.

Please find attached the press release sent both in French and English by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne [above], and a couple of releases sent later on by major press agencies. [not included]

These documents are self-explanatory.

Several members of the ETU Executive Board have made an attempt to unseat me, in conditions that have been unanimously criticized.

An extremely unfair and undemocratic "decision" had been taken on November 7, 2001. CAS decided to suspend this decision only 20 days later, on November 27.

Therefore, in my capacity of ETU president, I wish to inform all of you that I have convoked an extraordinary executive board meeting, that will take place within 10 days, and shall also conduct an extraordinary congress of ETU next January, aimed at bringing to an end a series of moves that I consider a shame for our young and dynamic sport.

In a moment when the IOC clearly indicates that triathlon should grow up and behave, before it is too late, all of you can count on me to contribute to this necessary process.
Bien amicalement,

Didier Lehenaff
President, European Triathlon Union
3, rue Froidevaux
F-75014 Paris, France
didier.lehenaff@wanadoo.fr

OLYMPIC/ITU NEWS PRIOR TO NOVEMBER 30, '01.