Lausanne, Apr 7, 2014: José Perurena, the president of the International Canoe Federation (ICF) and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been elected as president of the International World Games Association (IWGA).
The election took place at the SportAccord Convention in Antalya, Turkey where each candidate spoke about their aspirations for the future of the organisation.
Following a convincing speech, Perurena successfully secured over half the votes to ensure his place as president.
“My plan for the future years is having an agreement with the IOC to use these Games for the possible alternatives of the future sports that go to the Olympics,” said Perurena as he outlined his manifesto.
In addition, he talked about increasing the media profile of the Games and making them a true showcase for alternative sports. Plus, moving the organisation to Lausanne, Switzerland the Olympic capital and home of many International Federations.
“There are competing sports such as karate, dance sports or climbing sport. But we have two important points of view. We want to get some sports to the Olympic Games. But some International Federations are not recognised by the IOC. So we work on the possibility the IOC recognises them,” Perurena added.
Perurena is also the president of the International Canoe Federation, which has two disciplines in the Summer Olympics. He feels, and hopes, that the number of canoe-related disciplines may increase.
“Canoeing has eight disciplines. That means that 60 or 65 percent of the canoeing activity is not in the Olympic disciplines. For us this is very important to explain disciplines like canoe polo or freestyle kayaking. These two disciplines have the potential to get to the Olympics in the future,” he concluded.
Following his successful election Perurena discussed his plans to build a strong executive team to work for the organisation and stated how humbled he was to be elected as the president for such a prominent sporting organisation.
The International World Games Association was founded in 1981. It administers a quadrennial and multidisciplinary sports event, The World Games, which aspires to equal and exceed the importance of world championships organised by each federation individually. —- ICF
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