As insidethegames exclusively revealed last week, the International Judo Federation (IJF) President became the first contender to officially declare themselves as a candidate to replace Dutchman Hein Verbruggen, who has held the position since 2004, as the head of the umbrella organisation for all Olympic and non-Olympic international sports federations.

Vizer, an Austrian, who was born in Romania, unveiled the core elements of his manifesto which include a radical plan for all the sports to hold a united World Championships once every four years – something, he claims, will not be a direct competitor to the Olympics

However, Beutler, director of social responsibility and integrity units at SportAccord, moved to quash perceptions that the organisation is planning to hold large-scale global multisport tournaments.


"We don't know the particulars of his proposal, I've not looked at it in detail, but SportAccord is not a games organisation," she told insidethegames.

"It is not a games organiser, there is no intention and there should be no intention of becoming a games organiser which would be in direct competition to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

"We are more of a service oriented organisation providing tools and services to our members particularly in the areas of doping free sport, integrity and social responsibility.

"They are our core pillars of activity, nothing to do with the organisation of multisport games.

"So we'll have to see how things pan out."

Asked for her views on Vizer running for the Presidency, she responded: "We are looking forward to having other official candidates in the coming months, applications haven't closed yet so we will see."

The election for the President of SportAccord is due to take place at its annual convention in St Petersburg between May 26 and 31.

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