Before presentation of his memorandum President Damiani reports that bridge and WBF were accepted as full members, by applause in GAISF (General Association of International Sport Federation)general assembly after two years provisional status. The WBF also signs officially the WADA anti-doping code. On the occasion of Sport accord Congress, José Damiani discusses his idea of a…

Coordination
and or
Mind Sports Olympic Games

A statement

The last meetings in Madrid that brought together the IOC with the ASOIF, the AIOWF, the ARISF and the GAISF once again made clear the philosophy that will preside over the organization of the Games from now on.

For the Summer Games they must be limited to 28 sports, 300 medals and 10,000 athletes and, for the Winter Games, to 7 sports, 100 medals and 3,000 athletes. They must be profitable and, therefore, be subject to budgetary restrains.

No new sport will be considered unless another one drops out.
On the other hand, even if the National Olympic Committees are actively encouraged to accept the sports recognized by the IOC (who do not oblige them to do so), the Olympic Charter will not change.

In the same vein, there is no question of modifying Article 9 of the Charter concerning participation in the Winter Games which is reserved only for sports that take place on snow or ice.
Finally, it was made known to us very clearly that the popularity of a sport was the essential criteria for its consideration and, without it actually being said, we understood that this was measured by a sport’s television audience.

A definition – the interest

This supposed popularity deserves to be looked at from the point of view of the objectives that have been set.
Lets’ forget all about the controversy concerning the definition of a sport, which, when talking about bridge, President Samaranch said was a sport because it involved real competition. According to President Jacques Rogge, sport is an activity organized under the auspices of an International Federation with a view to competition. Finally, everyone has understood that the brain that commands the emotions and the muscles is an integral part of the body and that the two must be in perfect harmony for all physical or intellectual sporting activities.

Mens sana in corpore sano

In bridge the opposite is also true. If your body is not in shape you will not get much from your brain. It is essential to take care of your physical health in order to be able to play bridge well during hours and days of tough competition where luck does not enter the equation, any more than in football when the ball hits the inside of the post instead of the outside or when the high jumper misses the bar by a millimeter.

Bridge is a very modern game which allows for a comparison of each player’s talents, using the same hands and through probabilities.

Mind Sports are therefore real sports that have their own complementary virtues. In fact, at a time when throughout the world one observes a lowering of the level of education, everyone is pleased to recognize the strong support that the teaching of bridge or chess at school can bring.

We have highlighted why UNESCO and a number of Ministers of Public Education world-wide recommend teaching bridge in schools because, under the guise of a game, the children learn to concentrate, to memorise and finally to reason. Is it a coincidence that many children who were behind in their curriculum managed, according to their teachers, to catch up in this way?

We are even prouder of having been able to teach bridge in certain “difficult” areas and thus been able to turn some youngsters away from drugs and violence.

In November 2001 we arranged to take groups of children and youngsters to visit the Lausanne Olympic Museum, where they also took part in a short bridge contest, and they later told us that it had been an unforgettable day.

At an adult age, bridge favours meetings that go beyond the social and hierarchal boundaries in companies, and can be played across the generations, regardless of sex, race or religion, in families or in clubs or even on the Internet, a medium that we have been using for some years to play across the world or in order to retransmit matches.

If you come to our Championships you will be able to discover how we use all the latest information and video technologies associated to the human intelligence. Finally, we would like to convince you that if, in order to age well, it is necessary to keep one’s body fit, there can be no doubt that it is also essential to maintain one’s mental capacities. Bridge is one of the best mental gymnastics and numerous experiments, in particular in California, have shown that bridge can not only alleviate certain forms of ageing but can also help to prevent some illness that are due to age.

What of the future

What is the future of sports that are presently non-Olympic? all with very different status vis-à-vis television, their adherence to the National Olympic Committees or their popularity, or even their social and educational function.

Even before Madrid I had the opportunity, when I stopped in Lausanne, of meeting with Gilbert Felli (Olympics Games Director) and Christophe de Kepper (Chief of Staff President’s Office) to discuss an idea that consists of envisaging the organization of the Mind Sports Olympic Games, bringing together chess, draughts, billiards and bridge – before or after the Winter Games so as not to fall foul of Article 9 of the Olympic Charter – while outlining the economic and sociological benefits our sports can bring to the winter resorts.

We have in fact applied to join the Winter Games (and never the Summer Games) for a certain number of reasons:

• The complimentarity economic tie with winter sports resorts where bridge already organizes many popular festivals and training courses.
• The fact that bridge is played indoors without requiring any additional infrastructure other than the use of existing rooms in hotels or congress centres that are often unoccupied.
• Bridge would be able to fill the period in between the snow sports (morning) and the ice sports (evening)
• Finally, the difference in size between the Summer Games and the Winter ones could thus be better balanced with the addition to the latter of Chess and Bridge, both of which are great sports for competitors rather than spectators, just like winter sports.

In such a way we could increase the universality of the Winter Games as well as the economic and cultural environment of the winter resorts.

My audience reacted favorably and Gilbert Felli even imagined the advantages for the organizing cities to have these new games take place a year later in order to make the most of the infrastructure and the teams of volunteers.

Both gentlemen encouraged me to put this project to my colleagues and to compile a proposition, which I am doing today after having mentioned it to a certain number of delegates in Madrid.

Two options

1. We could stay with this new and third category, Mind Sports – chess, draughts, bridge, billiards – and hold these games in winter or bring in other coordination sports that offer the same popularity criteria(by the number of participants and healthy longevity) such as bowls or golf, and, in that case, hold the Mind Sports Games in Spring or Summer but always in the winter sports station the following year.

2. Or even extend it to all those sports that are or will become recognized non-Olympic sports and notably on account of education, this is clearly the case for orienteering and others…..

It is clear that certain sports such as karate or rugby have their place in the Summer Games but could also be integrated here without difficulty.

I am very conscious of the existing nature of the World Games. Without putting them into jeopardy,. I believe that this whole idea could enlarge and implement their purpose and solve the problems of all the parties concerned.

To take into account the financial considerations of the IOC, I suggest organizing the first games in Turin in 2007 at the cost of the sports concerned.

The size of the games will be fixed in agreement with the IOC, the city and the Association (ARISF or World Games?) which can become the organization’s partner.

Depending on the size, the criteria and number of participants will be defined. Within this framework, we could easily accommodate the same numbers as for the Winter Games. To respect the ethics and the rules of the IOC, we would still have the possibility of bringing in other sponsors if the Olympic sponsors decline the offer that will be put to them first. In the same way, the television rights could be negotiated in liaison with the IOC services without obligation to any party.

Thus we could prove our popularity especially if, in the meantime, we have lifted the obstacle of belonging to the National Olympic Committees, particularly important with respect to education.

It is obvious that our sports represent more than 1 billion participants, that they can be telegenic (we can provide video tapes from previous televised events) provided that one understands them but above all that they are indispensable to human development in line with the Olympic ideals.

In concrete terms for the calendar, I would like to present this project to:

a) the President of the IOC
b) the Study Commission
c) the City of Turin

once the ARISF and the various international federations have given me their opinion or their agreement at their earliest convenience, because I would remind you that the Study Commission will be meeting next month.

There was no question in this proposition of us contesting the strategy of the IOC. Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to call attention to the phenomena of society, of education, of passive attitudes (video games, TV) rather than action, our sports favoring a long convivial occupation that, we believe, merits a certain consideration.

Both NCBO and bridge players may realise that the criteria of popularity is, in great part, in their own hands.

The WBF has settled and followed an Olympic strategy. It is very important that everyone plays own role particularly in

-participating in next Olympiads in Istanbul
-making every effort to teach bridge in school
-and increasing the membership as much as possible