UIPM Secretary General’s message: Personal reflections on ASOIF governance report

Since several decades, international sports federations (IFs) have been under the spotlight of public and media scrutiny. Sports news is no longer confined to sporting events and it leans into sports politics and governance, where it seems there might be bigger holes to dig.

The pressure is high, and in parallel, the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) performs a continuous evaluation of IF governance related to transparency, integrity, democracy, development and control. A lot of traditional Olympic IFs are still struggling to innovate their sports, compete with new industry trends and make themselves financially sustainable. UIPM is one such IF.

There is more and more demand for the organisation to be professionally driven. The leadership is required to act with enterprising spirit, otherwise the federation could easily lose its position in the international sports market. Everything is commercial and business-oriented, while the soul of the sport still needs to be clean and pure.

Although UIPM is still listed in Group B by ASOIF, I must admit it is a decent result in the context of limited resources; a huge combined team effort. Meanwhile, we see the potential for future improvement.

The good news is that UIPM achieved five top-10 ratings out of 33 indicators, and was identified as an example of good practice in areas such as:

• Summary of meeting decisions
• Election campaigning rules
• Eligibility rules
• Social responsibility activity
• Open tendering

At the same time, we clearly see some places where a lower score leaves room for improvement in the coming years, including:

• Sustainability program
• Legacy program
• Risk management
• Increasing gender balance in more Committees and Commissions
• Term limit
• Providing support to help enhance the governance of National Federations (NFs)
• Actively monitoring continental confederations and NF governance compliance

Right now, we face a big challenge as Modern Pentathlon’s future in the Olympic Games is uncertain, although we have the faith to overcome it just as we have done before.

The New Pentathlon Discipline has enabled us to map out a vision but, at the same time, it underlines the threat we face. Hard decisions are often accompanied by big opportunities, potential and chances for future generations to thrive.

It is a worthy fight to fight, creating possibilities for improvement and opening new doors for our athletes. More and more are on board, and we welcome and thank each member of the UIPM community who contributes and works together to secure our future.