Since February 1997 there had been six candidatures to provide the venue for these headquarters (Oslo, Madrid, Paris, Ferney-Voltaire, Colorado Springs and Bonn), whose different characteristics and offers supposedly had to be studied by an Evaluation Committee, which was then to report to the Assembly and orientate them to make their final decision.

SYDNEY: A NEW LEAF

IPC's General Assembly, held in the new south wales capital, started off with confusion and authoritarian attitudes and ended with consensus and optimism regarding the future.

Bonn will be the new official headquarters for the IPC which has renewed practically all its leadership posts, with the exception of its president, Mr Steadward.

Evaluation versus imposition

Well, the Evaluation Committee - made up of Messrs Steadward (IPC president), Bromann (1st vice-president), Lindström (technical officer) and Michael Riding (medical officer, substituting the treasurer, Mr Auberger, who it was felt should not participate, given that he is French and Paris was one of the candidates) - presented itself before the Executive with a "closed view": Bonn had to be named the new headquarters. Several members of the Committee then requested alternative information on the other candidates, to no avail, and - although the "recommendation" of the Evaluation Committee was accepted by a majority - publicly expressed their dissension, not as regards the contents of their "advice" (the suitability of Bonn to house the future IPC headquarters), but rather with the procedure adopted, which they came to describe as "not very democratic". One of the Executive members declared: "this approach constitutes contempt for the General Assembly, offering it the choice "Bonn - yes or no?". But, what about the other candidates? Do they not even deserve some reflection as regards their possible validity?"

Manipulation

The next day, November 6th, the IPC General Assembly was officially opened with an optimistic intervention by the IOC sports delegate, Gilbert Felli, who expressed the "backing" of the International Olympic Committee to the reform process of the IPC, particularly as regards the "normalisation" of its relations with the different International Federations, with special mention of the "Lausanne Agreement", signed by the presidents of IPC and IBSA, with the support of Juan A. Samaranch himself.

Nevertheless, such a promising start was to be immediately disrupted as soon as the formal interventions of the Australian authorities supporting this Assembly with their presence had finished. Early on in the sessions proper, even before some of the national representatives had been able to arrive in Sydney, President Steadward proposed a modification of the Agenda, namely introducing the election of the official headquarters as the first point to be debated and voted. Many delegates - to whose attention the unofficial "recommendation" of Bonn had already come - were surprised, to say the least: was it really so essential to vote on this matter as soon as possible? If it was, why did the Presidency word the question in terms of "either Bonn, or nothing", instead of analysing extensively the different alternatives?

With such controversy in the air, the voting was pushed forward and the president even declared that a decision against his recommendation would be taken as "a vote of no confidence".

Incongruities

The incongruities continued apace during this disheartening start to the Assembly. In the initial count of voters, 92 delegations were accounted for (this figure later rising to 95 in the course of the meetings). Almost half of them had been directly invited by the IPC, using the "Olympic solidarity fund" of the IOC, nobody knowing what selection criteria were employed and, of course, none of the International Federations for Disabled Persons - such as IBSA - had been consulted in any way. Despite the supposed importance of the matter to be decided upon, the Presidency opted for a show of hands, perhaps in the belief that its proposal would receive overwhelming support. However, to fuel the fire of this "conference of confusion", the result between those supporting the motion in favour of Bonn and those against was practically a draw. In addition, the headcount of the votes did not correspond to the number of delegates supposedly present, with the result that the vote had to be repeated and the Russian representatives denounced the procedure adopted as "illegal".

Given the president's defence of the use of a show of hands, several delegates took the floor to express their indignation at the irregularity of the process. This was the case of representatives from Bolivia, Hungary, Italy, Dominican Republic, Finland, Poland, Iran, etc. Philip Craven, Wheelchair Basketball representative decided to formally challenge the Presidency on this point of the Agenda relating to the official headquarters. A vote was taken on this challenge, with the 1st vice-president acting as moderator. The speakers were Fidel Loayza, representative from Peru, who defended this challenge to Steadward's approach and George Dunstan, member of the IPC Executive, who argued against the motion, raising the idea again that passing this motion could be interpreted as a "a vote of no confidence" in the president. Despite all this, the Assembly approved the challenge to the president, with 53 votes for, 38 against and 4 abstentions.

The session thus ended without the question of the official headquarters being resolved, the decision being left for the following day. At the request of Mr Steadward, the Executive held an urgent meeting that night to attempt to sort out this issue. At this meeting, Juan Palau, president of ISOD, suffered a serious heart failure and had to be rushed to hospital.

The Committee decided to stick to its recommendation of Bonn, but also to offer the Assembly information on the other two options which, objectively, had a chance of becoming the future headquarters: Paris and Madrid.

Road to hope opens up

Novebember 7th thus opened once again with a call for a spirit of collaboration and goodwill amongst the delegates, this time from the lips of the Austrian representative, Daniel Binter. Wishing to continue this momentum, Miguel Sagarra (who would later be elected as the new secretary general of the IPC) took the floor and announced the withdrawal of the Madrid candidature, with a view to smoothing out the problems. Both he and the other delegates who had been quite belligerent with the approach of the Presidency insisted, once again, that their dissidence was not directed at the content of the stance (the "quality" of the Bonn candidature, which could surely be confirmed in an objective manner), but rather at "how" the question had been presented before the Assembly members as something "already decided", without permitting them an adequate knowledge of the underlying factors or to decide in a democratic fashion befitting an institution such as the IPC.

The conciliatory attitude of the Spanish delegates and their resolute defence of the general interest, as opposed to any individual stance, were applauded by the Assembly and produced a radical change in the overall mood of the meeting. A request was even made - and supported by overwhelming majority - for a vote of confidence in the president, Robert Steadward, the Assembly wishing to express its continued support, whilst demanding that he reconsider the need to respect the democratic procedure in the management of the sports movement for disabled persons.

Democratic lesson

The president of IBSA, Enrique Sanz, pointed out that what had occurred in Sydney constituted a true "lesson in democracy", and went on to highlight the positive effect of the incorporation of new countries to the IPC, "some-

thing which enhances the debate with-in our organisation and serves as a platform for extending the practice of sports by disabled persons, not just - as was the case previously - in the highly developed countries, but also in more deprived regions such as Latin America". Indeed, throughout the sessions, the weight of these new countries was consistently noted in the votes taken at the Assembly, as were the quality and profound nature of the speeches, interventions and debates. Most noteworthy were the participation of several IBSA members, such as the chairman of the American continent, the Argentinean Alberto Bravo.

In this context, we must recognise the demands of the sports - and their true protagonists, the sportsmen and women - as constituting the corner-

stone of the IPC. It has been made perfectly clear that "what the athletes feel" must be ever present within the decision-making bodies of the Committee, both as regards the direction their actions take and the very composition of its ruling bodies.

The makeup of the new Executive is a good example of this line of action. The profound renovation undertaken - affecting the posts of the new vice-presidents, secretary general, technical officer, etc. - together with the re-election of the president, Mr Steadward, permits us to look forward to this "new leaf" within the organisation, not according to criteria of continuity, as this must be for him too a "new presidency", but rather with full guarantees, offering the stability the groups of disabled athletes require for their adequate development.

A new spirit

This new spirit is clearly evidenced in such significant figures as the first vice-president York Chow, who chair-

ed the "Task Force", the commission formed to effect an in-depth study of the problems and tensions existing between the structures of the IPC and the International Federations which, as is the case of IBSA, represent ath-

letes with particular disabilities. Its report, presented before the IPC Assembly in Atlanta (1996), was praised for the balanced nature of its analysis and the criterion of operativity as regards the conclusions drawn from its contents. His presence next to President Steadward constitutes - in itself - a true guarantee of dialogue for all our groups, which have expressed their conviction that they will not be disappointed again in this respect.

The same can be said of the appointment of the North American expert Carol Mushett as the new IPC technical officer. Her highly-regarded professional career, principally linked to the CP-ISRA Federation and - more recently - to the organisation of the Paralympic Games in Atlanta, led to her appointment being interpreted in Sydney as "the triumph of sport and the athletes" within a ruling body of such importance. Her proven willingness to exchange views, her direct knowledge of the circumstances affect-

ing the running of competition events for the different disabled groups and, in short, her clear commitment to "sport above all" pave the way for optimism as regards a new stage governed by the technical and competitive progress of our sports.

As for the new secretary general, Miguel Sagarra, with his intervention at the Assembly he has already demonstrated his courage when it comes to overcoming obstacles and going all out to seek solutions, instead of going round in circles needlessly when dealing with conflicts. We include an interview with him in this issue, in which he manifests his priority of "oiling the machinery of the IPC", as well as consolidating the unity and dialogue between the different groups represented within it.

With these elements and the renewed confidence afforded him by the international representatives of dis-

abled athletes, President Steadward finds himself with a golden opportunity to arrive at the 2000 Paralympic Games with a Paralympic Movement truly modernised and brimming over with enthusiasm. IBSA, which at certain moments may have held differences with some aspects of his management, wanted to be the first to express these good wishes, place its trust in him and offer its full support for the development of a new approach, whose results will surely prove positive for all.

SYDNEY: A NEW LEAF the IPC

For the president of IBSA, Enrique Sanz, what happened in Sydney was a true "lesson in democracy" and he highlighted the positive effect of the incorporation of new countries to the IPC

THE TUNNEL AND THE LIGHT It is sometimes necessary for problems to "get really complicated" before solutions can begin to be found. A series of tensions have been generated within the IPC -ever since it started out at the '92 Games- and have continued building up as it has not known how to confront the combination of problems, in many ways similar but with evident peculiarities, of the different groups that go to make up the Paralympic Movement. It was obviously not an easy task -it must be said- but it is equally true that, frequently, they opted for the least suitable methods of seeking solutions and points in common. The method chosen in Sydney for voting on the new IPC headquarters is a particularly clear example of this deterioration. These kinds of attitudes -which could be interpreted as a half-way house between paternalism and authoritarianism- are those that must not be repeated in this new phase. The delegates at the Assembly demonstrated with their attitude the maturity, clarity and firmness of their positions: IPC, as the representative management body of this sporting sector, must act in a scrupulously democratic fashion. Whilst the phantom of past errors was once again present at the start of the Sydney meeting, plunging us into the darkness of the tunnel, in the end we saw the light that allows us to face the future with justified hope.

THE BEST GAMES OF ALL TIME

Sydney played host to the IPC General Assembly and took the opportunity to show all the delegates there present (representing over 70 countries) the promising progress of developments in the project for their year 2000 games. With a model which the organisers themselves hope will be "close to the running of Barcelona'92", those responsible for these end-of-the-millennium paralympics are convinced they will be "the best the word go -its full collaboration to ensure this highly foreseeable success becomes a reality in two and a half years" time, down under.

LINDSTRÖM RECTIFIES

The to-date IPC Technical Officer, and now its European Regional President, Hans Lindström, has addressed our magazine to rectify an aspect of the information which we offered in the last issue of BSI with respect to events at the IBSA General Assembly in Casablanca (MOrocco).

Our quote, taken from one of his interventions at said assembly, which he attended as representative of Sweden, was as follows:

"If IBSA proposes the incorporation of new sports, I am going to defend it to the end before the Technical Committee."

Mr Lindström now points out that what he really declared before the assembly was:

"I propose that influence for IBSA in the SAEC's should be secured, and I am prepared to defend this idea to the end."

We regret any possible misunderstanding on the part of our editorial staff (wich Mr Lindström may rest assured would never wish to misinform its readers as to his true criteria concerning these questions), undoubtedly due to problems arising from the simultaneous translation into several languages of each of the interventions. This rectification, however, was published at once on IBSA's internet website.

In any case, we have clarified here exactly what he wished to say before IBSA's General Assembly.

As we have been reporting throughout this issue, the latest IPC General Assembly proved to be a positive, important turning point in the internal operation of the ruling body for international Paralympic sport. The new approach and the good work of the institution are going to be in the hands of a group of persons who will enjoy the full confidence of the IPC's Executive and of its president. The innovation is the formation of three vice-presidencies to cover such significant areas as marketing, communications, planning, development, etc. These then are all the president's men and women

.

"All the men and women of the IPC"

PRESIDENTE: ROBERT DANIEL STEADWARD (Canada). Date of birth: May 26th 1946. Professor at the University of Alberta, Edmunton-Canada. He has held several posts of responsibility within different Paralympic sports associations in his country, such as the Wheelchair Sports and Recreation Association of Alberta (Canada), the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association, the Paralympic Sports Association or the Canadian Paralympic Committee. He has also received several awards for his work in advancing disabled sports in his home country and has been nominated for the 'Order of Canada'. He has been president of the International Paralympic Committee since 1989.

SECRETARY GENERAL: MIGUEL SAGARRA GADEA (Spain). Date of birth: May 3rd 1954. Graduate in Business Studies and Tourism. Post-graduate course in Management and Administration of non-profit-making organisations. Currently Director of Cooperation and Sports within the ONCE Foundation, and has ample experience in management posts in the Spanish National Organisation for the Blind. He is also secretary general of the Spanish Paralympic Committee.

Profile of those who will occupy positions of trust next to ROBERT STEADWARD, at the helm of the International Paralympic Committee "The sports delegate of the IOC, Gilbert Felli, declared the support of the International Olympic Committee to the process of reform within the IPC, especially as regards the "normalisation of its relations with the different International Federations"

VICE-PRESIDENT FOR LIAISON WITH THE PARALYMPIC GAMES: FRANCOIS TERRANOVA (France). Date of birth: June 25th 1936. He is currently inspector general in the French Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs. Almost all his professional career has taken place within the French public administration and he holds several distinctions such as the 'Order of National Merit' or 'Knight of the French Legion of Honour', awarded recently. Finally, special mention must be given to his report, prepared under the control of the IPC presidency, on the question of IPC/UNESCO Cooperation, which led to the posterior bilateral agreement.

VICE-PRESIDENT FOR POLICY, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT. DR YORK CHOW (Hong Kong-China). Date of birth: August 6th 1947. He is an orthopaedic surgeon and executive director of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of CP-ISRA and has an extensive curriculum in management posts in several Paralympic sports bodies and federations. He confesses to being 'in love with sport' in the widest sense of the term.

VICEPRESIDENTE OF MARKETING & COMUNICACIÓN: DUNCAN ORN WYETH (USA).
Date of birth: July 3rd 1946.

He is currently in charge of Customer Attention in the Michigan Rehabilitation Services. Since birth, he has suffered from cerebral palsy, something which has not impeded him from practising sports and enjoying an extensive professional career. He forms part of the United States Olympic Committee, where he is one of the seven representatives of disabled athletes on this Committee. Like Carol, he has published numerous articles and held different management posts in institutions related to the disabled sector.

THINKING ABOUT THE GAMES

Holding the IPC General Assembly in Sydney offered the delegates an opportunity to observe first-hand the preparations for the Paralympics, to be held in this australian city in the year 2000. The President of IBSA, Enrique Sanz, met up -in the offices of the spoc (Paralympics Games Organising Committee)- with is ceo, Lois Appleby, together with Louise Walsh, head of Marketing, and Jane West, director of Communications.

On the request of the australian representatives, our president outlined his direct contribution towards the promotion of the '92 Barcelona paralympic Games, as head of public relations and publicity for the Spanish Blind Organisation (ONCE), a key factor in ensuring the success of this event. He also offered the SPOC several promotional videos of the IBSA Federation, wich were received with great interest given their innovative nature in this sector.

TECHNICAL OFFICER: CAROL ADAMS MUSHETT (USA).

Date of birth: July 2nd 1954.
Member of the United States Olympic Committee and technical officer of CP-ISRA.
She is currently working at the State University of Georgia, in the Department of Kinesiology and Health.
She has published books and manuals on this medical speciality, as well as many articles in prestigious specialised medical journals.