A recent post shows a link to Mike Haslam, IDBF President, being quoted about how dragon boat racing won't be an Olympic sport for 20 years. The ironic part of his comment is that Haslam has become the biggest single hurdle to the long-term legitimacy of this sport (e.g., Olympics). As some of you know, there has been a bitter long-time battle between the ICF (International Canoe Federation) and the IDBF. The ICF regards dragon boat racing as a canoe sport and therefore believes that the sport should be governed by the ICF. The IDBF doesn't believe that a dragon boat is a canoe, so it uses that lame excuse to continue to govern the sport on its own. While the IDBF clearly has done a lot for the sport recently, Haslam and his board don't want to give up command -- even though the sport could go further as part as an already established and widely-recognized organization, the ICF.

If you don't believe that Haslam's position is just a power grab that hurts us all, then please take a moment to read Haslam's words at http://idbf.org/DBI_Jan_06.pdf where he clearly threatens the future IDBF eligibilty of YOU, a paddler, if you compete in any dragon boat races sponsored by the ICF. The specific passage is at the bottom of page 13. Also, check out page 16, column 2, paragraph 3, where it is clearly stated that YOUR country's govering body can exclude you from future IDBF races if you race in an ICF-sanctioned event.

These threats are ridiculous. The ICF is planning future dragon boat races which could be fun and competitive. None of us should have to worry about being declared ineligible for any future event no matter where we paddle.

I am so glad I'm just a fat,lazy weekend warrior.

What a greedy bastard!

Very well said. I agree. Mike Haslam is like a parent unwilling to let his child go to school without him. Mike has done well, now it is time to step back and watch your project grow. Release your grip and you will become more important to the sport you have nurtured, tighten your grip and it will choke under your paranoia.

Hello, I am Borat. I can offer to be running IDBF for you. I have great inspiration for Jesph Stalin. You like him?

ICF JOINS THE IDBF
In an historic move, two of the World’s oldest paddle
sports joined forces at last, when the ICF (the
International Coracle Federation) became an IDBF
Member. ICF President Monty Hughes said “ After
nearly 2000 years of paddling around in circles, the
Coracle Racing fraternity are happy to be part of a
Team Sport that paddles together in a straight line “

What the hell does that mean?

The above passage is a joke, written by Mike Haslam. He's poking fun at the ICF.

You are surely joking-------right???

Mike Haslam, IDBF, ICF, whatever, the chances of Dragon Boat ever being an Olympic sport are zero anyway.

It is not TV friendly. Too many participants. Not done seriously in enough countries.

Let's enjoy the many, many chances we have to compete internationally, and not fuss about being in the Olympics. Almost any crew with interest, money, motivation and an excellent manager can compete in an international competition somewhere.

"Mike Haslam, IDBF, ICF, whatever, the chances of Dragon Boat ever being an Olympic sport are zero anyway."

Yes, the chances of Dragon Boating being an Olympic sport are slim to none. But it's totally wrong for the IDBF to threaten anyone who competes in an ICF-sanctioned event. That's just crazy.

That the ICF would ever dangle the Olympics as a carrot to try to woo countries to support them as opposed to the IDBF is unconscionable. They have never cared about dragon boat racing until someone added up the numbers for them, and they realized how much money they could make if they took over.

Meanwhile, the IDBF ought to let go of the Olympic angle as well. There is no way it is ever going to happen. Too many people per team. An Olympic Village nightmare. Really, that's the beginning, middle and end of the story. Move on.

Mike is not the problem. The IDBF is not the problem. The ICF is certainly not the solution (more like opportunistic blood-suckers, but that's just my opinion).

It boils down to one thing. You have to create a whole new athletes village to accomodate dragonboat. How many large group sports are there in the Olympics? I think Soccer (or Football if you like) and hockey are the only olympic sports that have large groups from one country. Basketball is likely the next biggest and the roster size is 12-13.

Baseball got axed, rugby never made it in and neither has Football (American). It would be easy to argue that these sports should get in before Dragonboat.

You're kidding right? American football in the Olympics. Puleeeze.

About as likely and eligible as roller derby and WWF. Errrr, I mean WWE.

The originator of this thread has misconstrued the IDBF statements he/she cites. There is no outright threat to canoeists who also dragon boat as long as they do not damage the interests of IDBF dragon boat racing. The statement on page 16 allows individual countries' federations to set the acceptance criteria for paddlers participating in continental/world nations championships run by the IDBF. Each country has different selection processes based on its country's characteristics and the IDBF bye-laws allow room for this.

For example, as much of the ICF/IDBF problem originates in Germany it is not unreasonable for the German DB Federation (DDV) to give member dragon boat crews who contribute to the sport within the IDBF-associated federation the go-ahead to participate in IDBF events. Why should they allow individuals or a group who are hostile to the DDV (and/or IDBF)and do not recognize nor pay membership to the controlling body of the sport entry to IDBF events? (You wouldn't invite someone to your party if they were deliberately mean and threatening to you, now would you?)

May I also remind you, the IDBF and presumably the national DBF's, are democratic organizations so it's the members of each nation's federation who ultimately decide how the federation (and hence, the individual nation's criteria for national crew selection) is run. Ultimately it's up to individual paddlers to choose whether or not to risk being eliminated from the IDBF-sanctioned events if they choose to also participate in events run by an organization clearly and openly hostile to the IDBF.

Although I also canoe, I do not belong to a canoe federation so I am not allowed at ICF-sanctioned dragon boat races. I accept that and would not expect my country's national canoe federation to allow me to represent my country in ICF db events when I don't contribute to the canoe federation nor recognize its authority to regulate dragon boat racing. So why can't this thread originator accept the opposite in relation to dragon boating?

This thread was obviously started by someone who wants to have their cake and eat it too. He or she wants to paddle in the best events (IDBF-sanctioned events), but doesn't want to risk being barred from such events if he/she participates in events which are run by a hostile federation. Get real. If you want to be a dragon boat racer, go with the IDBF. If you want to be a canoeist, go with the ICF. If you want to do both, then do your dragon boat racing through the IDBF and your canoeing through the ICF. There are established federations for each of the sports.

And don't spread falsities that say the issue is just Mike's personal interest. Canoeing wasn't even interested in dragon boat racing in the late 80's and early 90's when the ADBF, EDBF and IDBF were formed. After all the pioneering work done by the IDBF (with Mike as one of its driving forces) canoeing decided to claim dragon boating at least a dozen years after Mike and the rest of the IDBF volunteers put a ton of time, sweat, blood and tears into organizing and promoting the sport. I know. I was there when (German-based) canoe interests suddenly decided to claim dragon boat racing after hungrily watching it grow and mature under IDBF's nurturing.

I believe Mike represents a majority of us in the dragon boat world who don't want to see dragon boating subsumed by canoeing. I know the man personally and know that he puts his own time and money into all the work he does for the sport, as do most of us who volunteer to develop the sport in the interests of dragon boaters. So lay off Mike and don't spread misleading, alarmist messages.