Earlier this month, ISAF voted to kick the sport of windsurfing out of the Olympic games in 2016, and to replace it with kiteboarding. They effectively said that windsurfing should go the same way as other former Olympics sports like...
Cricket
Croquet
and Lacrosse.
For the record, this is the tally of votes at the ISAF meeting...
For kiteboarding 19: United States (3 votes), Canada, Qatar, India, Finland, Norway, Spain, Dominican Republic, Cayman Islands, Bulgaria, South Africa, Ireland, Venezuela, Singapore, Italy, Puerto Rico, Australia.
For windsurfing 17: France (2), Poland (2), Argentina, Britain, Turkey, Slovenia, Germany, Canada, Greece, Italy, Brazil, Belgium, New Zealand, Russia, Japan.
Of course, the windsurfing community is up in arms about this decision. What are those Olympic people thinking? Controversial. Awful. Ill-informed. Dreams crushed. There is a petition. There's even a Facebook group to Keep Windsurfing Olympic. Wow! These people are really serious.
Meanwhile there are wild reports circulating about what really happened at the ISAF meeting. The Venezuelans don't like the way their representative voted. Israel say some of the delegates were "napping" and didn't know what they were voting for. The Australians are accusing the Spanish of "incompetence or bribery."
It's politics, people.
This is how every democratic organization works. Delegates vote in favor of their own interests, or their voters' interests, or the interests of people who shovel them money, above or below the table. Deals are made and broken. Compromises are made. People agree to vote a different way on one thing to win votes from others on another issue.
It's called playing politics.
Some people think that "playing politics" shouldn't happen.
Get real. It happens.
If you windsurfers want to overturn this decision you had better learn how to play politics better and harder than the kite boarders do. Get stuck in. Twist some arms. Bend some ears. Do some deals. Apply pressure. Threaten. Cajole.
Play politics.
It's politics, people.
This is how every democratic organization works. Delegates vote in favor of their own interests, or their voters' interests, or the interests of people who shovel them money, above or below the table. Deals are made and broken. Compromises are made. People agree to vote a different way on one thing to win votes from others on another issue.
It's called playing politics.
Some people think that "playing politics" shouldn't happen.
Get real. It happens.
If you windsurfers want to overturn this decision you had better learn how to play politics better and harder than the kite boarders do. Get stuck in. Twist some arms. Bend some ears. Do some deals. Apply pressure. Threaten. Cajole.
Play politics.








