SPORT 1913 - 2013

INTERNATIONAL SPORTS COLLA- BORATION AND FUTURE PARTNERSHIPS Harald Bauer / Austria

Introduction The CSIT has always been most willing to strengthen its connections with the interna- tional sports movement and is looking forward to the prospect of making new important ad- vances together within the sphere of amateur- ism in sports. The exchange in the field of grassroots level sports and the help to put grassroots level sports higher on the political agenda lead to a cooperation with numerous sport organisations on an international level. Since the Olympic movement dominates the world of sports, popular sport organisations need to make their voices heard. The economic importance of sport for all cannot be overesti- mated and it is often stressed in several confer- ences and dialogs worldwide; the benefits of physical activity for the individual and for the health system have turned out to become a key political issue in the last decade. The former “General Association of Interna- tional Sports Federations” was renamed in 2009 as SportAccord (2009). Its mission to unite, support and promote its members, the international sports federations and organisa- tions in co-ordination and protection of their common aims and interests, communication and co-operation while conserving and re- specting their autonomy, compelled the CSIT Executive Committee to apply for member- ship. In 1973 the CSIT finally received access to this network of sport organisations on an Collaboration between CSIT and SportAccord (former GAIFS)

international level. In 1977 the GAIFS changed its statutes and the CSIT lost its membership for one period, as it did not comply with the current membership requirements. However in 1980, when the CSIT met the requirements for being an Associate Member, the organisa- tion was accepted once again and remained a member to this day. The SportAccord being an umbrella for both Olympic and Non-Olympic sports as well as an organiser of sporting events offered a fantastic network to the CSIT and provided expertise in relevant matters in the 1980‘s, as it does today. This platform of all sport federa- tions worldwide was more than useful espe- cially in the development of the CSIT World Sports Games. The representatives of the CSIT had the unique possibility to meet the Presi- dents and Secretary-Generals of those Sports Federations, where the CSIT held champion- ships or started to become active. Close coop- eration with the International Federations were also part of the restructuring and reor- ganisation process that was initiated at the beginning of the new century in 2004. The first IF contract was signed during the SportAccord Convention in London, Great Britain, in 2011 (CSIT – FILA 2011). The matter was delicate. FILA, the International Wres- tling Federation, sanctioned all wrestlers, ref- erees and officials that had participated in the 2 nd CSIT World Sports Games in Tallinn, Esto- nia, 2010 with the following penalty: their participation in international wrestling com- petitions was prohibited for one year due to a

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