“Does more harm to the sport”
DSV shoots against the FIS boss without a lawsuit
03/14/2023 11:53 am
In a controversial case, Johan Eliasch is confirmed in his role as the most powerful man in the winter sports circus. Large associations are angry and file a lawsuit. It is withdrawn, but the trouble continues.
The World Ski Association FIS was pleased to learn that the German Ski Association (DSV) with its Austrian, Croatian and Swiss colleagues withdrew the joint lawsuit against the FIS President Johan Eliasch before the International Sports Court CAS. This means that there are no longer any doubts as to the legality of Eliasch’s re-election, the FIS said.
In any case, the association has always emphasized that the allegations made were “reckless” and “unfounded”. Now you can focus again on what really counts: namely working together democratically and cosmopolitanly and creating the best framework conditions for our sport.
“Completely wrong person in the post”
The four national associations went before the CAS after the controversial re-election of the FIS President last year. Eliasch had no opponent at the Ski Congress in Milan. The Anglo-Swedish businessman received 100 per cent of the votes cast, but not all delegates voted. At the request of delegates, a secret ballot was set by ballot, the required option no as an answer did not exist. The ski associations therefore described the election as a “farce”.
The lawsuit was not withdrawn “because our legal opinion has changed, but because we had to recognize that the current procedure overlays the necessary coordination processes and partially blocks them,” said DSV board member Stefan Schwarzbach on Saturday.
The DSV continues to see Eliasch critically. “My opinion is that the FIS President is the completely wrong person in this post, who does more harm than good to the sport,” said German Alpine Director Wolfgang Maier of the “Münchner Merkur/tz” media group. “In my opinion, for example, it cannot be the case that a FIS President alone decides what a World Cup calendar looks like.”