Giant field for Riccione worlds — doom for Sacto bid?
The biggest non-Japan world masters championships in history is assured. WMA President Cesare Beccalli writes of this September’s meet in his native Italy: “We have a total of about 8,900 competitors from about 90 countries — 3,000 of them are Italians, about 4,000 from other European countries, a little less than 2,000 from all other countries; particularly to be noted: about 600 from South America, 150 from Africa, wonderful!” But it’s not so wonderful for Sacramento’s bid for the 2011 World Masters Athletic Championships, which goes up for a vote in September.
A rival bid is from Porto Alegre, Brazil — the country where Beccalli lives half the time. Even though South America has never hosted a great WMA regional meet, Brazil’s bid has the advantage of being Beccalli’s baby, his legacy. And delegates at the Riccione General Assembly at the September worlds will be hard pressed to vote against their Capo after such a “successful” Italy meet.
(The 2009 meet is set for Lahti, Finland — a third consecutive world masters meet in Europe, after San Sebastian and Rcicione.)
No country has more than 5 votes for 2011 worlds, but the votes are definitely stacked against the U.S. bid — no matter how technically superior:
WMA AFFILIATES.
Listed below are the delegates entitlements for your affiliations, in July I will be sending notice to you with the general assembly booklet, in-between this gives you the opportunity to arrange your delegations for which I will need the details by the 12th August
Winston Thomas
WMA Secretary
WMA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RICCIONE 2007
DELEGATES ENTITLEMENT
COUNTRIES D COUNTRIES D
1 Albania ALB 1 74 Japan JPN 2
2 Algeria ALG 1 75 Kazakhstan KAZ 1
3 American Samoa ASA 1 76 Kenya KEN 1
4 Andorra AND 1 77 Korea KOR 1
5 Angola ANG 1 78 Latvia LAT 1
6 Antigua ANT 1 79 Lebanon LTB 1
7 Argentina ARG 2 80 Lesotho LES 1
8 Armenia ARM 1 81 Lithuania LTU 1
9 Aruba ARU 1 82 Luxembourg LUX 1
10 Australia AUS 5 83 Malaysia MAS 1
11 Austria AUT 2 84 Maldivas MDV 1
12 Azerbaijan AZB 1 85 Malta MLT 1
13 Bahamas BAH 1 86 Marocco MAR 1
14 Barbados BAR 1 87 Mauritania MTN 1
15 Belarus BLR 1 88 Mauritius MRI 1
16 Belgium BEL 2 89 Mexico MEX 4
17 Belize BIZ 1 90 Moldova MDA 1
18 Bermuda BER 1 91 Mongolia MGL 1
19 Bolivia BOL 1 92 Mozambique MOZ 1
20 Bosnia & Herzegovina. BIH 1 93 Myanmar MYA 1
21 Botswana BOT 1 94 Namibia NAM 1
22 Brazil BRA 2 95 Nauru NRU 1
23 Brunei BRU 1 96 Netherlands NED 2
24 Bulgaria BUL 1 97 Netherlands Antilles AHO 1
25 Cameroon CMR 1 98 New Zealand NZL 4
26 Canada CAN 3 99 Nicaragua NCA 1
27 Cape Verde CPV 1 100 Nigeria NGR 1
28 Central African Republic CAF 1 101 Norfolk Islland NFI 1
29 Chad CHA 1 102 No.Marianas NMA 1
30 Chile CHI 2 103 Norway NOR 2
31 China Peope Republic of CHN 1 104 Pakistan PAK 1
32 Congo CGO 1 105 Panama PAN 1
33 Congo Democratic Republic of COD 1 106 Papua New Guinea PNG 1
34 Colombia COL 2 107 Paraguay PAR 1
35 Cook Island COK 1 108 Peru PER 1
36 Costa Rica CRC 1 109 Philipines PHI 1
37 Croatia CRO 1 110 Poland POL 2
38 Cuba CUB 1 111 Portugal POR 2
39 Cyprus CYP 1 112 Puerto Rico PUR 4
40 Czechoslav Republic. CZE 2 113 Romania ROM 1
41 Denmark DEN 1 114 Russia RUS 3
42 Djibouti DJI 1 115 Rwanda RWA 1
43 Domin.Rep. DMA 1 116 Saint Vincent VIN 1
44 Ecuador ECU 1 117 San Marino SMR 1
45 Egypt EGY 1 118 Senegal SEN 1
46 El Salvador ESA 1 119 Serbia SRB *
47 Equaorial .Guinea GEQ 1 120 Seychelles SEY 1
48 Estonia EST 2 121 Singapore SIN 1
49 Ethiopia ETH 1 122 Slovakia SVK 1
50 Fiji Islands FIJ 1 123 Slovania SLO 1
51 Finland FIN 3 124 South Africa RSA 2
52 France FRA 5 125 Spain ESP 5
53 Gambia GAM 1 126 Sri Lanka SRI 1
54 Germany GER 5 127 St. Lucia STL 1
55 Ghana GHA 1 128 Surinam SUR 1
56 Great Britain &Northern Ireland GBR 5 129 Sweden SWE 2
57 Greece GRE 1 130 Switzerland SUI 2
58 Guam GUM 1 131 Syria SYR 1
59 Guatemala GUA 1 132 Taipei TPE 1
60 Guinea GUI 1 133 Thailand THA 1
61 Guyana GUY 1 134 Togo TOG 1
62 Honduras HON 1 135 Tonga TGA 1
63 HongKong HKG 1 136 Trinidad &Tobago TRI 1
64 Hungary HUN 1 137 Tunesia TUN 1
65 Iceland ISL 1 138 Turkey TUR 1
66 India IND 2 139 Turkmenistan TKM 1
67 Indonesia INA 1 140 Ukraine UKR 1
68 Iran IRI 1 141 USA USA 5
69 Ireland IRL 2 142 Uruguay URU 1
70 Israel ISR 1 143 Venezuela VEN 1
71 Italy ITA 4 144 US Virgin Islands ISV 1
72 Ivory Coast CIV 1 145 Zambia ZAM 1
73 Jamaica JAM 1 146 Zimbabwe ZIM 1
147 Montenegro MNE *
* awaiting confirmation from associations
4 Responses
Ken, I know the politics pretty well and it is absolutely critical that Sacramento follow through with there bid and not conceed or back out of the Bid process.I predict that Brazil will win the Bid–but with the political un rest and Local organizing committe issues connected with the Championships will not to able to pull it off–so Sacramento will then a year later quite possibly be offered the Championships–I really feel that there is a very could chance that it could go down this way. Securing the back up position is critical. I don’t think Brazil can pull it off–so if we stay in the game we will likely get the WMA Championships in the end.
I agree with Mark, Sac is unlikely to win the “election” but unless something amazing happens in Brazil – the organizational issues will rear their ugly head – and the meet could be moved. There is not so much “political unrest” in that the government is not going to fail, as there is the crime issue and the air traffic control issue – (which could be resolved by 2011- or more planes will fall out of the sky) and the lack of organizational support for the meet itself- as appears to have happened for the Regional meet last year.
On the other hand – should Brazil win and manage to pull together the meet – Brazil is a great country to visit – if you pick your spots carefully – save a lot of money for the visa that is required for US Citizens – the US charges them far too much for a visa to come here – so they do the same for us.
And don’t assume that everyone hates the US and wants to go to anywhere but here.
Porto Alegre, which is where they are proposing to hold the meet is in Brazil’s more temperate, more organized and less crime-ridden south. It is not Rio, it is not Sao Paulo, it is not Salvador — it’s a wonderful city where things get done. Don’t be surprised if they put together a fantastic meet there.
For those who don’t know about the difference between southern Brazil and the rest of the country, it is dominated by central and northern European immigrants and their descendants who have made cities like Curitiba and Porto Alegre models for the rest of the world.
I for one look forward to being able to compete there if my health, finances and work schedule permit.
Is there a list of participants for Riccione?
Leave a Reply