Posted: May 19, 2004

Triathlon: ITU Presidential Candidate Dr Sarah Springman Attends SportAccord

Dr. Sarah Springman who has declared her intention to run as a candidate for the position of President of the International Triathlon Union in December 2004 is attending the SportAccord Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, this week (15-20 May 2004).

Dr Springman (47) is attending as a delegate from UK Sport and joins some 800 others, including representatives of International Sports Federations, marketing experts, architects, lawyers, broadcasters, journalists and members of the International Olympic Committee, who are attending this year's SportAccord Convention.

SportAccord is organized by GAISF, ASOIF and AIOWF. Having represented the International Triathlon Union and International Masters Games Association at previous meetings of GAISF, Dr Springman is using her time at SportAccord to meet with colleagues from the IOC and other International Sports Federations.

Yesterday, Jacques Rogge, President of the IOC, announced at SportAccord that Paris, Madrid, London, Moscow and New York had been selected to take part in the final stage of bidding to be the host City for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Dr. Sarah Springman, who is the Hon. President of the British Triathlon Association and was Vice President of the International Triathlon Union from 1992 to 1996, has also launched a website this week to support her campaign to be elected as President of the ITU.

Dr Springman's website can be found at www.springman.info and will be used over the coming months to promote her vision of the future of the multi-sport disciplines that fall within the jurisdiction of International Triathlon.

The position of President of the International Triathlon Union is currently held by Les McDonald (Canada) who was first elected as President in 1989 at the inaugural meeting of the International Federation. It is believed that Mr McDonald (71) intends to seek re-election for a further four year term which would extend his reign as President to nineteen years. At the International Triathlon Union Congress held in Edmonton, Canada, in 2001, Mr McDonald praised Dr Springman for her contribution to the sport's inclusion in the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. The citation he presented at the Congress when proposing her as an Honorary Member of the International Federation stated that Sarah Springman "contributed immensely to the inclusion of Triathlon in the Olympic and Commonwealth Games."