Skeleton Rep report FIBT Congress

Skeleton Rep report on 2008 Congress 

Hi All, 

As your Athlete Rep I spent last weekend at the 2008 FIBT Congress in Italy, and there are a few new things you should know and lots of things that might interest you. 

Firstly from the President and Executive Board of the FIBT I need to pass on their “great admiration …for all our competitors and our commitment to their futures.” In 07/08 there were 235 athletes from 34 nations that competed in the four skeleton race series. 143 men from 30 nations, and 92 women from 21 nations.  

During the season there seemed to be two main issues that people talked to me about, training before the Olympics in Vancouver, and runners, both the material and testing. So I’ll talk about what happened at Congress in regards to these two points first.  

VANOC announced increased training, and are working with the FIBT to provide a minimum of 40 runs per athlete before the Olympics. The training week this coming season has been extended to 7 days (25-31 Jan) and they have added an extended training week (7 days) in the 09/10 season. The WC in Whistler will take place from the 2–7 Feb 09.  To reach the 40 run mark further announcements are likely I would imagine in regard to the training in 09/10, maybe extra days or more runs per day. The issue of who is allowed to do this training is still being discussed as is the possibility of an IC or AC race.  

VANOC handed out a POV of the track at Congress to your National Federation, please contact them to see it. The track becomes a public facility as of 1 July this year but if you are wanting to go and look at the track or watch please contact VANOC as there is still a lot of construction taking place. VANOC also advises that you book your accommodation in or around Whistler before 1 September otherwise the cost could become enormous.  To help you with this you can use the service at www.bcsliding.com/worldcupteaminfo.html which also contains info about a discount with National Rental Cars. 

I’d like to thank VANOC and the FIBT for the effort they have made in working towards the goal of 40 runs so we can have a fair and safe Olympics. 

Now onto runners. Essentially no changes but more testing and a possible limit on the amount of runners per person. Their was a proposal by the Canadian federation to the effect that either any steel be allowed or a second harder steel issued, and that athletes be allowed to treat their runners with whatever they want. The statues passed last year at Congress have changed the way the FIBT deals with rule changes like this. In the past this would have been voted on by the member nations at Congress, however now the proposed rule change is put to the relevant commission who then propose to the Exec what to do. So the rule change was put to the material commission who recommended to the FIBT exec not to accept it, so nothing has been changed. The FIBT has stated their commitment to runner controls and there is likel