(MENAFN- Arab Times) A senior Olympic powerbroker distanced himself from Marius Vizer on Tuesday and threw his full support behind IOC President Thomas Bach in the latest backlash against the leader of umbrella body SportAccord.
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, president of the Association of National Olympic Committees, said "it is time to put personal matters aside" and stand behind Bach's reform agenda "for the benefit and harmony of the Olympic movement."
The Kuwaiti sheikh issued a statement urging unity in the wake of Vizer's attacks on the International Olympic Committee. Nearly two dozen sports have suspended or withdrawn their membership in Vizer's SportAccord, which represents Olympic and non-Olympic federations.
Peruvian organizers have also pulled out of hosting Vizer's multi-sport World Combat Games in 2017.
Sheikh Ahmad and Vizer had been allies until the SportAccord leader challenged the IOC and sought to organize his own multi-sport games.
The sheikh's public statement marked another personal blow for Vizer, who has been left increasingly on his own since delivering a speech criticizing the IOC at the opening of the SportAccord convention in Sochi last month. Vizer called the IOC system "expired, outdated, wrong, unfair and not at all transparent" and said Bach's "Olympic Agenda 2020" reform program was of little use to the federations.
Sheikh Ahmad said Vizer's views "do not represent the view of ANOC and other Olympic movement stakeholders and ANOC is keeping its distance from them."
"The Olympic movement is strongest when it is united," he said. "There are many different stakeholders with the Olympic family but under the leadership of the IOC we must all collaborate in order to provide the best environment for our athletes."
Sheikh Ahmad's support for Bach comes as no surprise. The Kuwaiti, who is an IOC member and head of the Asian Olympic Council, was influential in building support for Bach's successful candidacy for the IOC presidency in 2013. He is also chairman of Olympic Solidarity, the IOC program which distributes revenues to national committees and athletes.
But the sheikh's intervention resonates symbolically, as he represents 205 national Olympic bodies and is considered arguably the second-most powerful official in the Olympic world.
Sheikh Ahmad and Vizer have also skirmished over the launch of a proposed World Beach Games. The two had previously agreed to work together on the project, but Vizer announced in Sochi that SportAccord would launch the event on its own in 2017.
Sheikh Ahmad said Tuesday he is pressing ahead with his own plans for the games.
"Under the leadership of the IOC, ANOC is cooperating and coordinating with other Olympic stakeholders for the new project of the Beach Games," he said. "The project will be launched very soon and will serve our athletes and bring benefits to the wider Olympic movement."
Vizer, who also heads the International Judo Federation, sent Bach his own 20-point "reform agenda" last week as the basis for a proposed meeting with the IOC leader. Vizer's proposals include the introduction of prize money in the Olympics.
Bach kept Vizer waiting, saying he would discuss the situation with the IOC executive board next month. Francesco Riccci Bitti, head of the association of summer Olympic sports, told Vizer he does not represent the view of the federations and has shown a "lack of understanding" of the Olympic movement.
In his statement, Sheikh Ahmad also jabbed Vizer by saying he would like to know how SportAccord shares its income with international federations and how judo distributes money to the national bodies.
In related story, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has emerged as the clear winner in a battle for influence over international sports federations as rival organisation SportAccord has been left in tatters.
A rare public confrontation that began last month with a scathing attack by SportAccord President Marius Vizer on the IOC has essentially ended with the complete isolation of SportAccord, an umbrella organisation for some 100 sports federations.
Dozens of them, including most Olympic federations, have either withdrawn their membership of SportAccord or made their opposition to Vizer's comments public, siding with the IOC.
Vizer had accused the IOC of lacking transparency and blocking new events, calling their system "expired, outdated, wrong, unfair and not at all transparent."
It is clear that Bach, elected in 2013, has emerged the big winner in this conflict against a potential competitor, who was eager to increase his control over federations.
Vizer took over SportAccord two years ago and immediately announced the United World Championships, an event the IOC saw as possible competition to the Olympics.
It never materialised after he opted to break them down into four smaller events so as not to threaten the IOC - but the battle lines had been drawn.
Federations are the lifeline of the Olympics. They bring the big names to the Games, making them the IOC's most valuable stakeholder.
A lack of top athletes would mean no top sponsors nor top broadcasting deals.
"I believe it was about making a point, about telling other potential threats and the world of sport that Bach and the IOC are in complete control," an Olympics expert, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
"Pressure or no pressure, anyone out there planning to challenge the IOC will now have to think twice after seeing what happened to SportAccord."
Vizer's position has been severely compromised with many federations saying he is no longer speaking on their behalf and demanding an apology to the IOC.
Peru's Olympic Committee, who had been set to organise SportAccord's 2017 World Combat Games in Lima, also pulled the plug on Sunday, telling Vizer they were siding with the IOC.
The World Combat Games have lost five of six Olympic sports, with only judo, the federation Vizer heads, remaining.
Yet alleged pressure is not enough to lead federations to side with the IOC. It is also the IOC's financial structure that ensures millions of dollars are distributed to them after each Olympics.
Just under $300 million was divided between the 28 federations after the 2008 Beijing Olympics and that figure went up to a staggering $519 million for 26 sports after London 2012 due to even greater broadcasting deals.
Rights deals have continued to grow and the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Games will flush further cash into their coffers.
Many Olympic federations depend on these revenues for their entire existence in the four-year cycle between Games and this cash injection is something neither Vizer nor SportAccord can replace any time soon.
"What is the relevance of SportAccord now? The Olympic federations are safe but non-Olympic federations are in a very awkward position at the moment," said the Olympic expert. "There is a division now that no one wants and that was created by SportAccord."
The organisation was never crucial for major sports but minor, non-Olympic federations used that platform - an annual convention and a string of multi-sports events - to increase global exposure and tap into new revenue streams.
A group of 23 such sports wrote to Bach and Vizer on Monday in a desperate plea to find common ground.
With the IOC boss unwilling to meet before briefing the Executive Board in June, time is running out for Vizer with Bach holding all the cards.
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