Swiss Olympic is the umbrella organisation for Swiss sport, comprising more than 80 national sports federations and thus representing the interests of around 2 million athletes organised into 18,000 clubs. To promote elite and grassroots sport and to represent the interests of the sporting community, Swiss Olympic has a budget of 115.6 million Swiss francs, comprising revenue from lottery organisations, federal government grants, sponsorship and contributions from the International Olympic Committee. Swiss Olympic passes on around 80 per cent of its revenue to the national sports federations in the form of funding grants.
SPEEDWEEK readers may well wonder what all this has to do with motorcycling. Well, Swiss Olympic also supports the national motorcycling federation, Swiss Moto, with an annual grant of around 122,000 Swiss francs. This grant is subject to conditions such as a structured youth development programme.
Overall responsibility for the operational management and direction of Swiss Olympic lies with the 15-member Executive Board. Ruth Wipfli Steinegger, who represents Swiss Tennis on the Swiss Olympic Executive Board, has now announced her resignation. On 20 November, the Swiss Olympic Sports Parliament (comprising 516 voting members) will elect a successor.
Rolf Enz (59), a former enduro racer and now managing director of the Swiss Motorcycle Federation (Swiss Moto), is standing as a candidate for this seat. The Aero-Club of Switzerland (AeCS), the Swiss Underwater Sports Federation (SUSV), the Swiss Federal Swiss Wrestling Federation, the Swiss Wrestling Federation, the Swiss Chess Federation and Auto Sport Switzerland are officially backing this candidacy.
Rolf Enz aims to bring the operational realities of small and medium-sized sports federations more strongly to bear within the Executive Board, where strategic decisions for Swiss sport are made. “Small and medium-sized federations are not a marginal segment of Swiss sport. Their importance must also be appropriately reflected in its strategic leadership,” says Enz. “I would like to bring their experiences and concerns directly to the Executive Board – constructively, in a solution-oriented manner and with an eye to the whole of Swiss sport.”
Enz expressly does not view his candidacy as a challenge to existing structures,
groups of federations or sports. It is intended to constructively complement the Executive Board with a perspective that is currently only represented to a limited extent: the day-to-day operational responsibility within a medium-sized, non-Olympic sports federation.
Enz’s candidacy was developed from the outset in collaboration with other sports federations; with more than 25 national sports federations involved in the dialogue, during which representatives from various sports and federations of different sizes discussed the challenges and expectations regarding stronger representation of smaller and medium-sized federations on the Executive Board. The discussions have met with a broad response: across different sports and federation sizes,
, there is a need for a more practical approach, proportionality and more direct access to the strategic management level. Even larger federations consider it
important to take the perspective of small and medium-sized organisations more fully into account. Should Enz be elected, it would be the first time that a representative of motorcycling has taken a seat on the Executive Board.
