Olympic Umpires Named, Tornado Capsized

ISAF on November 12 announced its officiating team for the 2008 Olympic Games at Qingdao, China, noting that the emphasis on the final-day medal races places extra pressure on the quality of the judging. No doubt sailors and the sailing public will pay close attention when the time comes, because creating that “medal round” is the only conspicuous move made toward meeting a conspicuous need for more media-friendly action in the Sailing Olympics. Considering too the underwhelmed public response to ISAF’s selection of categories for the 2012 Games, and dropping of the multihull.

How disappointed are the Tornado sailors? Before the ISAF Annual Meeting, this appeared:

TORNADO PRESIDENT AND F18 SECRETARY GENERAL ISSUE JOINT STATEMENT

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

A JOINT STATEMENT FROM THE
TORNADO PRESIDENT AND F18 SECRETARY GENERAL

“In the final days leading up to the ISAF Annual Conference, and throughout the Conference, the central priority for all multihull sailors, worldwide, is to ensure that our diverse and thriving discipline is supported and included among the Events for the 2012 Olympics.

Multihull sailing is a core discipline of the sport; it is actively practiced both recreationally and competitively in over 50 countries on 6 continents; it is dynamic, exciting, athletic, and fun; and from around the world, to around the buoys it defines the pinnacle of high performance sailing.

Multihull sailors and their classes are united in their commitment to present the clear and exciting facts about our discipline; and we are committed to supporting our entire discipline at the ISAF Conference. The multihull sailors who are delegates on ISAF Committees and registered observers are active in particular multihull classes, but at the ISAF Conference they will speak in unity on behalf of all multihull sailors.

Please support these sailors (and all multihull sailors throughout the world) in their efforts to focus on the multihull discipline and on the goal of seeing two multihull events in 2012.

Good Sailing,
Michael Grandfield, President, International Tornado Association
Don Findlay, Secretary General, International F18 Class

For commentary on equipment selection for 2012, click here.

Read on below for the news on officiating the Olympics. KL

The official announcement:

The ISAF Race Officials team for the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition has been announced.

The team of 66 International Technical Officers (ITOs) will work with the team of National Technical Officials (NTOs) to ensure fair play and good racing at the 2008 Games in Qingdao, China.With the new Medal Race format, which features on-the-water umpiring in the final race, Race Officials have never been more in the limelight. In order to meet this challenge, ISAF began the selection process for the ITO team back in November 2005. Since then the two Olympic Test Events have given the ITOs the perfect opportunity to gain experience, and ISAF an opportunity to evaluate their performance.Helmut CZASNY, ISAF Competitions Manager, said, “The ITO team for the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition is amongst the strongest ISAF has ever assembled. The ITO team is drawn from the elite of ISAF Race Officials worldwide and it’s fantastic to see over 30 nations represented.”The final team is composed of four elements: the Technical Delegates, the ISAF Race Management Team, the ISAF International Jury and the ISAF Measurement Team. In total 32 nations are represented, covering Asia, Europe, Oceania and North and South America.The two Technical Delegates have overall responsibility for overseeing the preparations for, and the conduct of the Olympic Sailing Competition. The Technical Delegates for Qingdao are ISAF Vice-President David KELLETT and ISAF Deputy Secretary General Jerome PELS, who was also Technical Delegate at the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Games.

The Race Management Team has the responsibility for running the races out on the water. It is made up of 26 ISAF International Race Officers, chaired by Charley COOK (USA). Twenty seven ISAF International Race Officials form the International Jury. David TILLETT (AUS) in the chairman of the Jury, a role he also occupied during the 2004 Athens Games. Dick BATT (GBR), chair of the ISAF Equipment Committee, heads up the 11-strong Measurement Team.

ISAF Appointed Race Officials

ISAF Technical Delegates

David KELLETT (AUS), ISAF Vice-President

Jerome PELS (NED), ISAF Deputy Secretary General

ISAF Race Management Team

Charles A COOK (USA), Chair

John PARRISH (NZL), Vice Chair

Abdur Rehman ARSHAD (PAK)

Marinus BLICKMAN (NED)

David CAMPBELL-JAMES (GBR)

Pierluigi DE LUISE (ITA)

Bruno DE WANNEMAEKER (BEL)

Per-Olof EKSTRAND (SWE)

Philippe FAURE (FRA)

Christophe GAUMONT (FRA)

Hans Peter HYLANDER (SWE)

Thomas JORGENSEN (DEN)

Krystyna LASTOWSKA (POL)

Ricardo NAVARRO (BRA)

Luis ORMAECHEA (ESP)

Athanasios PAPANTONIOU (GRE)

Marina PSICHOGIOU (GRE)

Peter RAMCKE (GER)

Peter REGGIO (USA)

Nino SHMUELI (ISR)

David SPRAGUE (CAN)

Adrian STOGGALL (GBR)

Maria TORRIJO MOLL (ESP)

Paul ULIBARRI (CAN)

Ross WILSON (AUS)

Kevin WILSON (AUS)

ISAF International Jury

David TILLETT (AUS), Chair

John DOERR (GBR), Vice Chair

Miguel ALLEN (POR)

Mats BJORKLUND (FIN)

Bernard BONNEAU (FRA)

Sally BURNETT (GBR)

Kamen FILLYOV (BUL)

Pat HEALY (USA)

Josje HOFLAND (NED)

Nelson Horn ILHA (BRA)

Oleg ILYIN (RUS)

Quanhai LI (CHN)

Jack LLOYD (NZL)

John MACCALL (ARG)

Ronald MCCRACKEN (HKG)

Marianne MIDDELTHON (NOR)

Bill O’HARA (IRL)

Takao OTANI (JPN)

Alfredo RICCI (ITA)

Bo SAMUELSSON (SWE)

Ana Maria SANCHEZ (ESP)

Jan STAGE (DEN)

Rut SUBNIRAN (THA)

Totos THEODOSSIOU (CYP)

Zofia TRUCHANOWICZ (POL)

Eric TULLA (PUR)

Pertti LIPAS (FIN), Off-site consultant