Messy chapter for World Sailing election

Kim Andersen was elected World Sailing President in November 2016, but lost his bid for a second term in 2020 amid three ethical complaints. As World Sailing’s Ethics Commission has dismissed two of the complaints and one complaint is withdrawn, Andersen speaks out about the smear campaign which hindered the election. This report comes from PlaytheGame:

In November 2020, Quanhai Li of China was elected as the new World Sailing President after defeating incumbent Kim Andersen of Denmark by 68 votes to 60.

Li’s victory came after a bitter election campaign where several accusations of unethical conduct against Andersen damaged the Dane’s re-election campaign for a second four-year term as World Sailing President.

And now, new questions of the presidential election are rising as the third ethical complaint brought against Andersen since 2019 has been dismissed.

An Independent Appeal Panel appointed by World Sailing’s Ethics Commission concluded on 19 October 2021:

“There is no evidence that Mr. Andersen breached the Code of Conduct. In the circumstances the Panel unanimously makes the following award: The charges brought against Mr. Andersen, that he breached provisions of Section 1.9 (a), (b) and (c) of the Code are dismissed.”

The ethical battle in World Sailing has been covered by sailing magazines around the World. ‘Scuttlebutt Sailing News’ has framed the controversy as the result of a cultural clash between a group of old conservative supporters of traditional sailing in classic dinghies and keel boats and a group of younger supporters of modern sailing in new technology driven boats in mixed gender events that appeal to a broader audience.

However, Andersen has no doubt that the ethical cases were part of a smear campaign against him orchestrated by supporters of his three opponents in the presidential election, Scott Perry of Uruguay, Gerardo Seeliger of Spain, and Quanhai Li. And according to Andersen, alle three candidates were supported by IOC Vice President Ser Miang Ng during the election campaign.

“All my opponents in the presidential election were directly or indirectly involved in the ethical cases against me. Perry and Seeliger were parties in the ethical cases. And it is well-known in World Sailing that Miang, who was also involved in the cases, is a supporter of Quanhai Li,” Andersen argues.

According to the former World Sailing President, the timing of the ethical cases and the leak of them to the press, even before the World Sailing Council was informed of the cases, were carefully planned by supporters of his three opponents prior to the constitution of the candidates and the election process. – Full report

Editor’s note: While not giving Andersen a pass, what we witnessed by biased people with an online platform, pushing a personal agenda for their benefit, was shameful.