Ex-sailing chief questions voting on class for 2024 Games

Published Dec. 10, 2018 5:53 p.m. ET

The former head of sailing's governing body has joined other sailing officials in questioning the results of a vote to add a mixed-gender offshore class to the 2024 Olympics.

Paul Henderson of Toronto, who also is a former member of the International Olympic Committee, said in a letter to World Sailing President Kim Andersen of Denmark that some votes were recorded incorrectly during the recent annual conference in Sarasota, Florida, and the governing body must re-open the issue.

"Your prompt attention to this rather unfortunate situation is in order," Henderson wrote to Andersen on Saturday.

Henderson was president of what was then called the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) from 1994-2004 and was on the IOC from 2000-04.

At least four members of World Sailing's Council have said their votes were improperly recorded, which should have been enough to defeat the offshore proposal. In the process of approving the offshore class, the Finn class, which has been in the Olympics since 1952, would be eliminated after the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Andersen said that once World Sailing has completed the overview of the voting processes, "we need to decide what appropriate action to take next."