Since the end of 1997 a great deal of time, energy and
money has been spent by myself, Graziano Tognala our Secretary General and other
members of the Executive Board in the promotion of water skiing as a full
Olympic Sport for 2004.
Including travel, promotion, advertising and the
organising in Seville of an exhibition competition and reception attended by
about 800 National Olympic Committee delegates from nearly 200 countries during
the ACNO conference, together with Members of the IOC Executive Board including
H.E Juan Samaranch plus members of the press, the IWSF has either incurred or
expects to incur costs in the region of US$600,000.
We consider the Water Ski demonstration at Seville an
unqualified success which has finally laid to rest the bogeys of an engine and
the drivers influence. It showed how we can set ourselves up on an Olympic
Rowing site within half a day and therefore our infrastructure is not a great
additional cost to an organiser.
From our own resources, a contribution from Region EAME,
fund-raising through the AWSA and commitments from friends of water skiing, we
know we will have at least US$350,000. We need donations from lovers and friends
of water skiing to raise the balance.
In the US and Canada, cheques should be made payable to
'IWSF Athens 2004' and sent to Tony Baggiano, the fund-raising chairman, 611
Oakley Place, Alexandria, VA 22302, USA.
From other parts of the world payments can be through
any of the following methods.
It would be helpful if on the reverse of the cheque you
write '2004'.
Our programme is going well. Tremendous progress has bee
made and we are optimistic. The Greek Olympic Committee and the Greek 2004
Organising Committee need to propose the two new sports to the IOC and must do
so no later than early September. Without these two nominations our chances are
dramatically reduced and our efforts now are concentrated on Greece.
The meeting of the IOC to make the final decision is
scheduled for early December.
We need your help now to finance the last part of our
programme and achieve our goal so please, please help us overcome the last
hurdles.
Now, let me present the video taken in Seville at the Olympic demonstration with special thanks to the Italian Water Ski Federation who produced the video for the IWSF.
Andres Botero
President