From WDSF The Athletes' Commission 18/08/2012

The WDSF Athletes' Commission asked WDSF Communications to publish the following Memorandum on the commission's behalf.  

WDSF Athletes’ Commission

Memorandum

On Thursday, 16th August 2012, in the Bonn Salon at the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, Germany, the WDSF Athletes Commission, chaired by Zoran Plohl, met with the following dancers:

Ashli Williamson (Commission Member), Paolo Bosco (Commission Member), Rene’ Ewals (Commission Member), Simone Segatori, Annette Sudol, Bjorn Bitsch, Anastasia Klokotova, Yury Simanchev, Silvia Pitton, Luca Bussoletti, Tjasa Vulic, Zeudi Zanetti, Anna Matus, Gabriele Goffredo, Saverio Loria, Michael Solovyev, Kristina Tsvetkova, Errol Williamson, Zhaniya Zharmenova, Andrey Zaytsev, Anna Kuzminskaya, Elizaveta Chirevichnaya, Andrey Gusev, Artem Efanin, Anastasia Kornilova, Valentin Voronov, Alina Imrekov, Kirin Vasily, Ekaterina Prozorova, Rosario Guerra, Grazia Benincasa, Donatas Vezelis, Lina Chottenviciute, Timur Imametolinov, Ekaterina Nikolaeva, Olga Kulinova, Dmitriy Zharkov, Damir Haluzan, Nikolay Darin, Natalia Seredina, Stefan Green, Adriana Sigona, Joanne Clifton, Marco Cavallaro, Letizia Ingrosso, Anna Bezikova (non-voting), Ivo Kappett (non-voting).

The object of the meeting was to discuss the policy of the WDSF in relation to competitions run by other organisations, specifically the “British Open Championships”, “The UK Championships” and the “International Championships” in England.

After each athlete had the possibility to express his or her personal opinion, and the topic was adequately deliberated, the following statement was drawn up and a secret ballot was taken. 77% of the dancers present agreed with the statement, 17% did not agree with the statement, and 6% abstained from voting.

“We, athletes of the WDSF, are aware that non-sanctioned competitions are not banned in 2012/13 by the WDSF, but have no intention of dancing these competitions until such time as those competitions are run under WDSF rules and regulations, following the Olympic ideals and adhering to the rules of sport.”

The WDSF Athletes’ Commission will continue in the future by presenting a petition, which may be signed by any other dancer who agrees with this policy.

The Commission thanks all dancers who were present and hopes that this may act as the first documentation of the voice of the athletes and that this may be taken into consideration by the WDSF and its Presidium.