Delegates from 29 countries attended the 2011 EA Congress in Aarhus, Denmark today. Hosted by the the Danish Waterski Federation and supported by Sport Event Denmark and Sport Aarhus Events, the Hotel Helnan Marselis venue is located on the sandy beaches of Aarhus and provided excellent facilities.
The Conference attendance included the President of the National Olympic Committee of Denmark, Niels Nygard, the EA President Alain Amade, the IWWF President Kuno Ritschard, the Danish Waterski Federation President Frank Tengberg-Hansen, IWWF Vice-President Franz Kuhn, the IWWF International Hall of Fame Chairman Des Burke-Kennedy and representatives of all IWWF disciplines. Here are the highlights :
Neils Nydard offered generous support of our Sport in its Olympic ambitions and explained the possibility of a future European Games, to be held every four years, which might also feature our Sport. The new Federations of Sudan and Romania were welcomed to membership of our EA Confederation. On the retirement of Franz Kuhn AUT, elections took place for the EA candidate for the position of IWWF Vice-President. Italy?s Silvio Falcioni was duly elected.
Kuno Ritschard announced his planned retirement as IWWF President in two years time and updated the Congress on Olympic matters, the World Cup, the World Games and Cable Wakeboard developments. The EA 2011 Calendar was finalized and is now available at : http://www.eame.be/waterski/Calendar.nsf
Each Council submits candidates each year for the award of Athlete of the Year to the AdminCom which in turn makes the final decision. This year, those selected are Natalia Berdnikava BLR (Tournament) and David Small GBR (Barefoot)
The 2012 EA Congress will take place on January 28th in Athens. The full Minutes of the 2011 Congress will be posted shortly at : http://www.iwwf-ea.eu/waterski/EAMEOfficeMailings.nsf