British Swimming Chief Executive David Sparkes has been re-elected General Secretary of European federation LEN at the Election Congress held in London.
Paolo Barelli won another four-year term as President and Tamas Gyarfas were also re-elected as Treasurer.
President Barelli thanked the support of all LEN Member
Federations and declared that together they could ensure that Europe remains
the strongest and most successful continent in the aquatic world.
For the first time ever all 52 member federations were
present at the LEN Congress in the East Wintergarden at Canary Wharf. The
activity and the financial reports presented to the delegates on 2015 and on
the past four years all highlighted how LEN had moved forward since 2012.
The recent cycle turned into a success story, LEN major
events produced a significant growth in cumulative TV audience, popularity and
media exposure. Involving great cities to stage the European Aquatics
Championships (Berlin 2014, London 2016) and the strongest water polo
communities for the Water Polo Europeans (Budapest 2014, Belgrade 2016) all
contributed to the strengthening of LEN’s position in world of sport, just as
the professionalism and the dedication of the hosts of the other important LEN
events.
Consequently LEN’s financial situation has never been so
sound and for the first time it could offer prize money for the athletes
competing at the European Championships, and grant travel assistance for the
participating federations, amounting almost two million euros for 2015 and
2016.
President Barelli emphasised the most important outcome
of the past four years was the fantastic results the European athletes
achieved. As he concluded his speech, “our top priority will be the same, to
dedicate all our activities to the benefits of the athletes.”
The other Officials, General Secretary David Sparkes and
Treasurer Tamas Gyarfas, running unopposed, earned unanimous support to
continue their work. Francis Luyce, Christa Thiel, Dimitris Diathesopoulos,
Sven von Holst and Andriy Vlaskov were elected as Vice-Presidents.
LEN will be represented in the FINA Bureau by Paolo
Barelli, Tamas Gyarfas, David Sparkes and Dimitris Diathesopoulos and two other
members who will be elected at world-at-large in the 2017 FINA Congress in
Budapest.
After the Congress the re-elected LEN President insisted
that together the LEN Family could travel the long road successfully. “We had a
strategic plan of action and it worked in the past four years. We will exceed
these successes in our next term. Our system is based on strategic financial forecasting
and implementation.
“Also, strengthening ties between FINA and LEN will be a
top priority in the organisation’s immediate future” Barelli added. “We will
work to increase the support we offer to national federations for the
development, more specifically in the areas of teaching and coaching courses,
aquatic sport centres, modernisation of equipment and European legislation. LEN
must provide operational assistance to members who desire to develop the
aquatic disciplines more rapidly in their home countries.”
As a conclusion, the LEN President said: “I would like to thank all those who have helped LEN achieve such remarkable results during my first term as President. Our most heartfelt thanks go to our athletes who we are proud to support by means of our continued, passionate, hard work.”
Upon this occasion, four long-serving officials’ were recognised for their outstanding efforts done for European Aquatics: Swimming Technical Committee Chairman Soren Korbo, TSC Secretary Ray Kendall, former Water Polo Technical Committee Chairman Haluk Toygarli and Technical Diving Committee Chairman Georgia Fyrigou-Consolo.
Composition of the new LEN Bureau, 2016-2020
- President: Paolo Barelli (ITA)
- General Secretary: David Sparkes (GBR)
- Treasurer: Tamas Gyarfas (HUN)
- Vice-Presidents: Dimitris Diathesopoulos (GRE), Sven von
Holst (SWE), Francis Luyce (FRA), Christa Thiel (GER), Andriy Vlaskov (UKR)
- Members: Fernando Carpena (ESP), Joe Caruana Curran
(MLT), Per Rune Eknes (NOR), Pia Holmen (DEN), Jerzy Kowalski (POL), Ahmet
Mazhar Bozdogan (TUR), Aleksandar Sostar (SRB), Marco Stacchiotti (LUX), Noam
Zwi (ISR)
- FINA Bureau Continental Members: Paolo Barelli, Dimitris
Diathesopoulos, Tamas Gyarfas, David Sparkes
- LEN Internal Auditors: Ray Kendall (IRE), Giuseppe
Nicolini (SMR)