Proud Member of The Olympic Movement 22/03/2016

Jenny Mann’s position as Head of Sport Partnerships & Coordination is a fairly new one within the structures of the IOC Staff. It was created to coordinate the implementation of the Olympic Agenda 2020, to manage key strategic projects in the Sports Department and to oversee relations with the IOC recognised organisations.

When Mrs Mann met with WDSF President Lukas Hinder and WDSF Adviser Jean-Laurent Bourquin on Friday 18 March, their discussions touched on all three of her areas of responsibility.

Hinder informed Jenny Mann of his immediate plans for leading the federation until the ratification of his presidency in June. Reacting to his statement that WDSF would seek to consolidate the WDSF Headquarters in Switzerland, Mrs Mann commented on the benefits of establishing an office in Lausanne: the synergy that develops between the many federations based there being just one of them. 

President Hinder went on to report on the most recent outcomes of the WDSF’s own strategic planning process, 2020 VISION, highlighting the adoption of the Code of Ethics and the installation of an Ethics Committee by the General Meeting in 2015. With a view to this year’s General Meeting he pointed to the Editorial Guidelines as another milestone document that the delegates will vote on.

Hinder then elaborated on the different disciplines that – between them – make up the “new” DanceSport. One that is a successful core sport on the programme of The World Games, featuring with four disciplines in their tenth edition in Wroclaw, POL, in 2017. But also one that is showcased with greater breadth and many more disciplines in the proprietary WDSF World DanceSport Games! In this context, President Hinder asked for the IOC to reaffirm a statement it had made earlier that cheerleading could be considered a DanceSport discipline.

Another important part of President Hinder’s presentation dealt with the topic of “fair judging” and described the methodology that WDSF had employed over the past years to improve all aspects of judging in DanceSport. With work continuing in this field as part of the 2020 VISION process, the systems currently in use are to be perfected further and the judges’ training gets stepped up accordingly.

Hinder also spoke of sport’s ability to bring added value to the Olympic Movement in many ways. On the strengths of its unique appeal, DanceSport stands poised to assume whatever role it is assigned to promote Olympic values. From supplying television programmes for the new Olympic Channel to conducting dance workshops at the next Youth Olympic Games, anything is possible for a sport that takes pride in being a member of the Olympic Movement.