LEN Bureau Delegate 2007
Andriy Vlaskov was appointed as Bureau Delegate to Arena Diving Champions Cup in Stockholm on February 17-18 and to the European Junior Championships in Trieste on July 25-29, 2007. 


Diving calendar problems 2007
I reported that there are problems with the European Grand Prix Events in June 2007 as the FINA Office wants to start the new World Series in Diving already in June-July 2007 and there is absolutely no space for the World Series at that time of the year. The European Grand Prix hosts (Moscow, Madrid, Rome and Rostock) are not willing to change the already scheduled dates. I expressed my wish and expectation that the World Series will be arranged after the Universiade in August-September or in November-December. 


EDF Summer Event 2007
As there is no big international competition during the summer season 2007 (due to the fact the Melbourne World Championships are held already in March) LEN has initiated a world event on August 2-5 in Paris and the French Swimming Federation has accepted to run the event in a temporary 50 m pool in Bois de Bologne (no diving). The French electricity company EDF is the  sponsor and there will be prize money. The competition is open for any Federation and the Federations have to pay their costs for travels, food and lodging. Four swimmers per event can be entered. Some wild cards will be invited. As FINA claims that FINA has to approve continental competitions LEN has decided not to be the official organiser. The French Swimming Federation is the organiser “in cooperation with LEN”. LEN does not agree with FINA about the interpretation of the FINA rules regarding continental competitions and there are rumours that President Larfaoui intends to propose a new By-law in Melbourne clearly giving FINA this power. 

There will be an additonal world event in Japan after Paris, also during the first half of August. 


European Championships 2008 
There is still no final date for the European Championships in swimming, diving and synchronised swimming in Eindhoven 2008. FINA claims there must be at least 14 days time difference in relation to the Short Course World Championships in Manchester but for many reasons LEN does not want to hold the championships during Easter. The preliminary date is March 26 – April 6 but it might happen that LEN accepts to start one day earlier, on March
25, which means that also diving will start one day earlier. It was confirmed by the Bureau that swimming will start and that diving will come at the end, diving consequently on March 31- April 5 or April 1-6). 

There is a discussion going on within swimming regarding the timing of the swimming finals, as there will be morning finals in Beijing 2008. The LEN Bureau as well as LEN TSC, TV and the hosts are of the opinion that the finals in Eindhoven under no circumstances can be held in the mornings. 


European Junior Swimming Championships 2008
These championships were allocated to Belgrad (outdoors), preliminary on July 30 – August 3. As diving was not included in the bid this means that the diving junior championships 2008 must be held separately as in 2007. 


World Championships 2011
As you know the 2009 World Championships will be held in Rome. It was reported that CHN (Shanghai) is the only Federation that has confirmed its bid for 2011. All other Federations have withdrawn their bids as the economic conditions are too tough. FINA does not like the situation as FINA wants to have a competition between bidders. 


Masters economy
Masters liaison Kurt Mikkola once again expressed his appreciation ot the organisation of the European Master in Stodckholm 2005 and reported on a very interesting survey made by the Swedish Swimming Federation based on 400 interviews with participants. There were 3000 swimmers taking part but also 1700 persons who accompanied the swimmers.. Each person spent in average 150 Euros per day, 50 % on accomodation and 50 % on shopping, and this gave the hotels, restaurants and shops in Stockholm an income of 3.200.000 Euros. 


LEN economy
The LEN economy is still good and the capital is estimated to be between 2,9 and 3,0 millions Euros by the end of the year. 

The 2007 budget is traditional with estimated incomes of 2.182.000 Euros and expences of 1.838.000 Euros. 

The Executive is starting to consider to give more economical support to the Federations. 


LEN Office
The work load on the LEN staff is heavy and the Executive is discussing to employ a part time staff member for the financial work.Stella, he diuving assistant, has parental leave (twins supposed to be born on December 11) and a Spanish former swimmer living in Rome is temporarily eployed as replacement. 


History of LEN
The Bureau decided to prepare a book on the history of LEN as a celebration of the 80th anniversary. It was considered important not to wait until the 100th anniversary as many historically important LEN persons can contribute to such a book but will have passed away in 2026. 


LEN Yearbook
The Bureau decided to continue with the publication of the LEN Yearbook although the cost is high, 45.000 Euros. 


LEN Magazine
The Bureau found the LEN Magazine better than the earlier publication but is still not satisfied. After some more numbers an evaluation will be done. The cost is high, 20.000 Euros per year. 


LEN website
There were complaints that the LEN website is not up to date as concerns rules and regulations. TSC proposed an additional information on the website. As entries to the LEN Events now can be done electronically, the entry lists can easily be transferred to the website, which will be of 
interest for many before they travel to the event.. 


LEN Athletes Commission
The Executive is considering to propose the introduction of a LEN Athletes Commission. The reason is that some swimmers already have formed a kind of informal international body to present their opinions and the Executive finds it better to have a Commission that has a formal status within LEN. 


The UNICEF Solidarity Project
LEN has agreed with the United Nations organisation UNICEF to support the UNICEF activites to improve the life of children.The concept is: “Safe water for every child. A race against time.” This can be understood from two aspects. One aspect is the fact that 4.500 children die every day (!!!) because they drink water that is not clean. The other aspect is the fact that drowning statistically is the fourth reason why children die. LEN wants to help improving water quality and teaching children to swim in poor countries. The cooperation with UNICEF was officially announced in Helsinki and as a first contribution LEN handed over a check of 5.000 Euros to UNICEF. The intention is that not only LEN shall cooperate with UNICEF on a world level but also that the national Swimming Federations shall cooperate with national UNICEF organisations. 


LEN code of conduct
LEN has decided to introduce the LEN code of conduct to be printed in the next issue of the LEN Handbook. In principle it is a copy of the FINA code of conduct (see FINA Handbook page 93) but a difference is that there shall be no appeal system within LEN. Appeals shall be made directly to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, CAS, in Lausanne. 


LEN Rule E 1.2
The Bureau decided to propose to the 2007 Congress to scratch the word “Technical” in the present LEN Rule E 1.2. The expression “Technical Rules of FINA” is misleading as there are no rules called technical in the FINA Handbook. 


LEN Congress 2009
The 2009 LEN Congress was allocated to Copenhagen on September 18-19. (The 2007 Congress will be held in Brussels on September 28-29 and the 2008 Congress is not yet allocated.) 


Next Bureau meetings
The Bureau will meet in Kiev on May 25-26 and in Paris on August 4, 2007.

 

Toivo Öhman