NEW YORK, New York, November 22. THE USA Swimming Board of Directors met today to discuss and vote on the USA Swimming International Relations Committee's proposal , championed by ASCA Executive Director John Leonard, to overhaul the FINA Bureau. Swimming World observed the meeting via teleconference.
On Nov. 15, the USA Swimming IRC voted 14-6 to put Leonard's proposal forward to the Board of Directors. The proposal called for a new 15-member FINA Bureau comprised of five continental presidents, an elected elite athlete from each of the five disciplines and an elected elite coach from each of the five disciplines. The proposal would have been a late addition to a separate set of internationally-supported proposals that are moving forward from USA Swimming that already include a single athlete and single coach representative structure.
Today's meeting proved to be emotional at times, while the Board of Directors decided to not expand its current proposal for FINA change.
The main points of discussion during the meeting today focused on Fran Crippen's death, and the desire for heavy change within the FINA governance structure. Leonard proposed that Crippen's death called for immediate change, while several attendees stated that Crippen's death should not be used as a motivator for change over-and-above what was already proposed by USA Swimming.
Leonard started off the meeting by quoting an e-mail from Thomas Lurz stating that the race that claimed Crippen's life was not very organized, that the FINA delegate in charge of the meet could not speak English very well, and could not and would not change anything about the race.
Leonard went on to state that after 40 years of coaching, Crippen's death was a 2×4 to his face, and that it made him realize that despite great efforts by USA Swimming representatives to improve FINA – FINA was still "a lousy organization." He further stated that FINA's culture is bad, and is a culture of going along to get along, and that athletes are given next to last priority with coaches being last. His assertion is that FINA's culture is all about bringing in money, and "to hell with the athletes."
Leonard continued by admitting that he was "deeply embarrassed and ashamed" to have worked with FINA on a "fake coaches commission" that is told what to talk about. "The 2×4 to the face to me said no more," Leonard said. "It is time to stop putting lipstick on the pig."
Leonard persisted stating that the time to make a change was now to put coaches and athlete in every meeting. He also threatened, "I am never going to stop on this, folks."
Former USA Swimming president Bill Maxson spoke against the proposal. He stated that the proposal was not the right way to do it, and that this proposal could jeopardize the guaranteed representation USA Swimming is working hard to get for coaches.
Former USA Swimming President Ron Van Pool also spoke against the proposal with a written response. He stated that while he was in full support of the panels created to investigate Crippen's death, and in no way did he want to be seen as disrespecting Crippen's memory, he felt that the current issue was about leadership and governance. He stated that Dr. Julio Maglione has already pledged to hold a democratic congress, and is making good on that promise.
Van Pool further explained that USA Swimming created a task force to create legislation to put forward to FINA, a process that has received much consensus internationally as well as praise. He asked that if this current concept of a 5+5+5 FINA Bureau was not new, and was so urgent to require a separate meeting today, then why wasn't it put forth to the task force? Van Pool also explained that the 5+5+5 proposal does not provide for how the five coaches and five athletes would be selected, setting up the potential for a single continent to claim all 10 votes and thus lessening the chance for change within the FINA structure.
FINA Vice President Dale Neuburger, from the U.S., voiced his desire that USA Swimming follow the same legislative process for change within FINA as USA Swimming took regarding athlete protection policies to guard against sexual abuse within the sport. He stated that it was the right thing to do things in a positive way, and that during the course of the past six months USA Swimming has emerged as a better organization because it enacted change in a deliberate way, even though many people demanded much quicker action.
USOC athlete representative Kalyn Keller also spoke up stating that "Fran's death was a 2×4 to all of our faces, but we should not play on the emotions of Fran's death to put forth a quick proposal." Keller also asked what was being done for the two open water competitions to be held January 2011, and in the long-term for the sport.
In the end, the Board voted against the proposal in an open vote even after the possibility of a secret ballot was proposal and denied almost unanimously by the Board.
Extended Conversation Regarding Fran Crippen Investigation
The meeting had been focused completely on the agenda of discussing the proposed legislation until Coach Dick Shoulberg, Crippen's coach and mentor, used the opportunity to voice his displeasure at how long it was taking people to answer his questions regarding Crippen's death. When told that the meeting was not to discuss the investigation surrounding Crippen's death, Shoulberg pressed forward.
"As of two days ago, the FINA open water committee has not been charged by FINA to find out what went wrong in Dubai," Shoulberg said.
At this point, USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus explained that a conference call would be taking place on Nov. 29 where Wielgus, Jim Wood, Bruce Stratton, Paul Asmuth, Jack Roach and Lindsay Mintenko to specifically address the U.S. presence at the two open water events in January and that they were on track to answer the short-term question. He went on to explain that USA Swimming will need to work on deciding how and when a U.S. athlete competing at an event becomes an official delegation. That will be the long-term discussion on the table going forward. Wielgus brought up the point that swimmers can chase money all over the world, but the question will remain how much control and authority should USA Swimming have over these athletes, and when will a specific representation become an official representation.
Wielgus also explained that he had spoken with the independent investigators into Crippen's death this morning, and that they are "laser focused" on why the venue was changed at the last minute in Dubai. The investigators stated that they still could not find the answer on why that happened, and are still focused on finding out.
Shortly before the vote occurred that shot down the proposal, a letter from open water expert, and FINA open water technical committee member, Steven Munatones was read stating that at times, he has felt that "he'd rather watch [FINA events] from home instead of being at these competitions with my FINA jacket on. From my very first meeting, Cornel [Marculescu] and I have disagreed. "
Munatones explained the process by which changes are made at FINA open water events begins with the FINA delegate on-site having to call the FINA office to explain any issues to Cornel. Cornel would then make the decision whether changes needed to be made, and would then contact the local host director personally to enact those changes.