Press Release 25/2000
Press Release 25/2000
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15.12.2000
DanceSport within the Olympic Family
IOC-Felli: "It was a most interesting and convincing presentation."
On December 11, 2000, the Palace Hotel, Lausanne, Switzerland was the scene of a DanceSport Demonstration Competition(Standard & Latin). The audience consisted of President Samaranch, the entire IOC Executive Committee, the IOC Programme Commission and the IOC Athletes Commission, including Sergei Bubka and Kip Keino. The following IDSF officials were present: IDSF President, Rudolf Baumann, Peter Pover, Lukas Hinder, Heinz Spaeker, Tony Tilleni, Johannes Biba and Australian Federation President, Vince Bain. Baumann expressed in his opening statement the hope that IOC officials would leave fully convinced that they had seen genuine athletes in a genuine sporting Competition.
Before this presentation of DanceSport, President Samaranch used the occasion to present awards to three gentlemen who were being honoured by the IOC. Over one hundred top IOC officials watched the competitions enthusiastically, and listened between dances to information about DanceSport and how it is judged, given by Peter Pover. They applauded energetically and non-stop. The whole evening was a tremendous success, and clearly changed many people's attitudes.
Mr. Pover and the other IDSF officials spoke with several former Olympic stars who were greatly impressed, and Mr. Pover received congratulations from President Samaranch and several of his top officials. The event marked the culmination of a long lobbying campaign by IDSF President Rudolf Baumann, and was timed to perfection.
The following IDSF-Athletes took part in the competitions: Standard; Mirco Gozzoli & Alessia Betti, Italy; Arunas Bizokas & Edita Daniute, Lithuania; Kazuaki & Yumi Watanabe, Japan; Dannial Gosper & Jayne Boland, Australia. Latin: Andrej Skufca & Katarina Venturini, Slovenia; Jan Kliment & Petra Kostovikova Czech; Franco Formica & Oksana Nikiforova, Germany; Thomas Szégö & Coprinne Roost, Switzerland; Jaton & Bunga from Lausanne, the city of the Olympic movement. Adjudicators were: Fredi Novak, Slovenia; Mr. Barbieri, Italy; Rita Baumann, Switzerland. There was also a show from Andreas & Beate Wolf, the World Rock'n'Roll Champions.
Gilbert Felli, IOC Sports Director, expressed in fax to IDSF on 12. December: "I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you upon the occasion of the DanceSport demonstration which was held in Lausanne on 11. December 2000. I must say that it was a most interesting and convincing presentation."
We should not underestimate the difficulty of getting into the Olympics. 14 Federations requested admission to the Athens Games. Efforts are being made to reduce, not increase, the number of participants in the Games, and it is an uphill task to get new sports added. However, we knew that when we started, and we will keep going.
The IOC Executive Board decided on December 13, that no new sports would be admitted to the programme of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. (See IDSF Press Release 26/2000)
Gilbert Felli, IOC Sports Director, wrote to IDSF on 15. December: "As always the IOC commits itself to the continual development of the Olympic programme, and therefore this decision does not relate to Olympic Games beyond 2004. We would encourage you to continue such efforts as fundamental objectives of your federation."
Johannes Biba
IDSF Communications Director
