Many national cycle federations are now informally urging the Union Cycliste Internationale to re-run the survey to find out which two cycling events should be culled from the 2008 Olympics. Track fans can play their part by emailing their national federations with a set of questions to be asked of the UCI.
The UCI is standing firm behind its decision to cull from the Beijing Olympics the men’s kilo and the women’s 500m time trial. Last week, a petition containing 10 679 names was handed to Pat McQuaid, the UCI’s president elect, by the editor/publisher of BikeBiz.com and track rider Julie Dominguez.
In a full page article in the UK’s Cycling Weekly magazine, published yesterday, McQuaid said he was “livid” at finding himself in what Cycling Weekly called “the centre of an embarrassing controversy.”
He told Cycling Weekly that his comments, made at the handing over of the petition at the UCI’s HQ in Switzerland, were “off the record”.
In a blistering phone call to BikeBiz.com editor Carlton Reid earlier this week, McQuaid changed this claim. He said: “In my mind it was off the record.”
He had made explosive comments about the fury of the Beijing Olympic committee, and the inability of the Chinese cycling federation (its best hope of a cycling gold was in the women’s 500m) to find more trackies in a country of billions of cyclists. This week he admitted he had been “naive”.
His claim from last Thursday that the International Olympic Committee had demanded it was to be track events culled and not road events was swiftly denied by the Switzerland-based IOC.
Were the UCI to re-run the survey asking which two cycle events should be culled from the Olympics, there would be no opposition from the IOC.
It is BikeBiz.com’s understanding that there are no IOC rules saying the UCI cannot reverse its event deletion decision. The UCI’s decision to drop certain events is not subject to IOC’s executive approval. It’s just “two in, two out.” The International Olympic Committee would accept any cull decision from the UCI, the current one or any future one.
The current decision was taken after a March 2005 survey of 24 national cycle federations.
It’s believed many federations voted to exclude the road time trial with only a small proportion voting for the exclusion of the kilo. However, some of the federations surveyed said they were asked to vote on all existing events, and were not told that any votes for a road event would not be counted.
Internal UCI documents, seen by BikeBiz.com, show that the UCI had already decided it would be track events culled from the Olympics, not road. So, the inclusion of road events on the March survey calls into question the validity of the survey’s results.
Despite many requests from national cycle federations, the UCI has not so far published the survey questions or the full results. McQuaid refused to be drawn on vote rigging claims, telling Cycling Weekly that “all the federations gave track options.”
“It is incorrect to say that the majority called for road events,” he said.
This comment seems to indicate road events were on the March survey.
It is time for the UCI to come clean. If the organisation has nothing to hide, it will publish the survey questions in full and the results in full. It should also publish the cull survey emails sent by Hein Verbruggen, UCI president, to the six federations which supplied not just survey answers but in-depth reports on which events should be culled.
Openness is supposed to be enshrined in the UCI’s ‘rules of good governance’. The organisation is meant to meet the “strictest criteria in terms of transparency” and “democracy.”
If the UCI hopes to ride this one out, as it has ignored complaints in the past, perhaps the 10 679 who signed the petition in the eight days it was online might like to email their own national federations to see what, if any, questions are being asked of the UCI?
There’s a list of federation email contacts below. Many of the federations have told BikeBiz.com privately they are already exerting pressure on the UCI and would welcome other federations joining in.
The UCI’s ‘rules of good governance’ state that the UCI is “solely competent to represent the interests of 170 [national federations], which it is made up of. In all its actions, the UCI endeavours to respect the interests of each one and of all [national federations] which are affiliated to it.”
If track fans get answers from their national federations, please let BikeBiz.com know. We’ll keep a tally.
If your national federation is not on this list, try the address list on the UCI website: UCI
DUTCH ANTILLEAN CYCLING FEDERATION:
[email protected]
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA AMATEUR CYCLING ASSOCIATION:
[email protected]
CYCLING AUSTRALIA
[email protected]
BERMUDA BICYCLE ASSOCIATION
[email protected]
CYCLING FEDERATION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
[email protected]
BELIZE AMATEUR CYCLING ASSOCIATION:
[email protected][email protected]
FED. BURUNDAISE DE CYCLISME
[email protected]
BELARUSSIAN CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
FEDERACION BOLIVIANA DE CICLISMO
[email protected]
CONFEDERACAO BRASILEIRA DE CICLISMO
[email protected]
BAHRAIN CYCLING ASSOCIATION
[email protected]
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
BULGARIAN CYCLING UNION
[email protected]
CANADIAN CYCLING ASSOCIATION
[email protected]
CAYMAN ISLANDS CYCLING ASSOCIATION:
[email protected]
FEDERACION CICLISTA DE CHILE
[email protected]
CHINESE CYCLING ASSOCIATION
[email protected]
FEDERATION CAMEROUNAISE DE CYCLISME
[email protected]
FEDERACION COLOMBIANA DE CICLISMO
[email protected]
FEDERATION COMORIENNE DE CYCLISME
[email protected]
FED. COSTARRICENSE DE CICLISMO
[email protected]
FEDERACION CUBANA DE CICLISMO
[email protected]
CYPRUS CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
CZECH CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
DANMARKS CYKLE UNION
[email protected]
FED. DOMINICANA DE CICLISMO
[email protected]
FED. ECUATORIANA DE CICLISMO
[email protected]
[email protected]
ERITREAN NATIONAL CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
FED. SALVADORENA DE CICLISMO
[email protected]
REAL FEDERACION ESPANOLA DE CICLISMO
[email protected]
ESTONIAN CYCLISTS UNION
[email protected]
NATIONAL ETHIOPIAN CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
FIJI CYCLING ASSOCIATION
[email protected]
THE CYCLING UNION OF FINLAND
[email protected]
FEDERATION FRANCAISE DE CYCLISME
[email protected]
FED. GABONAISE DE CYCLISME
[email protected]
BRITISH CYCLING
[email protected]
BUND DEUTSCHER RADFAHRER Ev.
[email protected]
HELLENIC CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
FED.GUATEMALTECA DE CICLISMO
[email protected]
FEDERATION GUINEENNE DE CYCLISME
[email protected]
GUAM CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
GUYANA CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
FEDERATION HAITIENNE DE CYCLISME AMATEUR
[email protected]
HONG KONG, CHINA CYCLING ASSOCIATION
[email protected]
NACIONAL DE CICLISMO DE HONDURAS
[email protected]
HUNGARIAN CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
INDONESIAN CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
CYCLING FEDERATION OF INDIA
[email protected]
CYCLING IRELAND
[email protected]
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
ISRAEL CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
VIRGIN ISLANDS CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
FED. CICLISTICA ITALIANA
[email protected]
JAMAICA CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
JAPAN CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
KAZAKSTAN CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
KENYA AMATEUR CYCLING ASSOCIATION
[email protected]
KYRGYS CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
KOREA CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
SAUDI ARABIAN AMATEUR CYCLING
[email protected]
LAO CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
LATVIAN CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
LIBYAN CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
ST. LUCIA CYCLING ASSOCIATION
[email protected]
LEBANESE CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
LIECHTENSTEINER RADFAHRERVERBAND
[email protected]
LITHUANIAN CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
FED. DU SPORT CYCLISTE LUXEMBOURGEOIS
[email protected]
ASSOCIATION DE CICLISMO DE MACAO, CHINA
[email protected]
FED. ROYALE MAROCAINE DE CYCLISME
[email protected]
MALAYSIAN NAT. CYCLING FED.
[email protected]
MOLDAVIAN CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
FEDERACION MEXICANA DE CICLISMO
[email protected]
MONGOLIAN CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
FEDERATION MALIENNE DE CYCLISME
[email protected]
MALTA CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
FEDERATION MONEGASQUE DE CYCLISME
[email protected]
KONINKLIJKE NEDERLANDSCHE WIELREN UNIE
[email protected]
NORGES CYKLEFORBUND
[email protected]
BikeNZ INC.
[email protected]
PAKISTAN CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
UNION CYCLISTE DE POLOGNE
[email protected]
FED. PORTUGUESA DE CICLISMO
[email protected]
CYCLING ASSN. OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF KOREA
[email protected]
CYCLING SOUTH AFRICA
[email protected]
FEDERATION CYCLISTE DE LA RUSSIE
[email protected]
SWISS CYCLING
[email protected]
CHINESE TAIPEI CYCLING ASSOCIATION
[email protected]
USA CYCLING
[email protected]
[email protected]
CYCLING ASSOCIATION OF ZAMBIA
[email protected]
ZIMBABWE CYCLING FEDERATION
[email protected]
