Dispute at Fis escalates: Ski boss on athletes’ protest: “Not to be taken seriously”

In the heated dispute over a possible investor entry, the head of the World Ski Association, Johan Eliasch, accused his athletes of allowing themselves to be exploited for sports politics. After the racing drivers recently published two letters of protest, Eliasch said: “I don’t believe that these letters were written by athletes, but by someone else whose interests do not correspond to their interests or those of the Fis.” The top official said in an interview with the German Press Agency: “These letters simply cannot be taken seriously.”

Eliasch reported that he had spoken to athletes himself. “Some didn’t even know their names were put on the letters,” he said. Others didn’t understand what they were signing, the Fis boss claimed, without naming names. “Others said: I did it because I was forced to do it, but I don’t know what it’s about.”

Eliasch: The letter actually doesn’t come from athletes

The background to the dispute is an offer from the financial company CVC to join Fis for 400 million euros. In two letters, the athletes accused the Fis of rejecting the offer without consultation. When asked who wrote the letters if not the athletes, Eliasch replied: “I won’t speculate about that, but I think that every insider knows exactly who wrote them – and it certainly wasn’t the athletes’ commission.”

According to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, which first reported on the CVC offer together with the Swiss “Blick”, 71 athletes signed the second letter – almost twice as many as the first.

The signatories include stars such as Mikaela Shiffrin, Marco Odermatt as well as the Germans Linus Straßer, Lena Dürr, Emma Aicher, Kira Weidle and Jessica Hilzinger. Given the uproar surrounding the issue, it is hard to imagine athletes not knowing what they have signed.