We have three main reasons that drive us to dig a little bit more on the issue of the Spanish vote in favor of ditching the windsurf from the 2016 Olympics and substituting it with kiteboarding.
First of all, it is by no means a purely Spanish issue. It’s not about whether a national championship will be held in Valencia or Barcelona and its repercussions go well beyond the country’s borders and deeply affect one of the world’s most popular watersports.
Secondly, it was a decisive vote that tipped the balance in favor of the kites and against the windsurf. Had the Spanish delegate voted what he was supposed to vote, always according to the official line of the country’s federation, the two disciplines would have tied at 18 votes each and windsurf would have retained its status of Olympic discipline.
Last, but certainly not least, Spain is the only national authority to have publicly stated that its representative was “confused” and didn’t understand what he was voting for. Gerardo Seeliger, according to the press release, was meant to give his vote to the windsurf but due to some error he did the contrary and the rest is history.
On Sunday we were contacted by the press officer of the Spanish Federation, Neus Jordi. Regarding Seeliger’s vote, she repeated the press release, stating again that it was the result of a “confusion”. According to her, Seeliger was absolutely convinced he had voted in favor of the windsurf but realized his “error” only when the official voting list was published by ISAF.
According to reports we had received, Seeliger had given a speech in favor of kiteboarding prior to the vote and had Gerardo Pombo, President of the Spanish federation, sitting behind him during the meeting. The information regarding the speech was also confirmed by the federation spokeswoman. However, according to her, Seeliger’s speech was in favor of adding it, together with windsurf and not in substitution of it. If the two disciplines can coexist, the Spanish federation would be in favor of it but opposed to windusrf getting dropped. It appears, according to the Spanish federation, that Seeliger thought that what was voted was the addition of kiteboard.
Gerardo Seeliger advises his business students to "lead by example" and be "meticulous" but the Spanish Sailing Federation portrays him as someone that gets confused in a simple vote over two options
Again, it is extremely difficult to believe that a person with Seeliger’s credentials and qualifications would make such a childish mistake. The federation spokeswoman couldn’t clarify what the voting procedure was and where Seeliger erred. However, she wouldn’t put us in contact with Seeliger stating that he wasn’t allowed to talk to the media. The only one allowed to publicly talk on the issue is her and nobody else, as she stated. We can’t understand why he shouldn’t be allowed to clarify the situation, after all, he was the only one out of all the delegates to get “confused”.
There are two additional issues that make us doubt about the sincerity of the Spanish federation. First of all, reliable sources informed us that Spain’s kiteboarders were convened in Santander in order to be informed about the federation’s decision to support kiteboarding, a week before the vote. Secondly, it is a known fact that both Gerardo Pombo and Gerardo Seeliger wanted to include kiteboarding in the Santander ISAF World Cup in 2014. The logic behind the vote was that they wanted to show their support to kiteboarding, in order to try it, but didn’t think it would win the vote last week.
This website has no vetted interests in any of the two disciplines. We don’t carry any advertizer directly or indirectly related to either windsurf or kiteboarding and we have to admit we have barely covered either of these disciplines. As a result, we don’t have any reason to be in favor of one or the other. Nevertheless, it is difficult to understand why the Spanish Sailing Federation would lie about their vote…