Suspension opens controversy of the skate confederation with COB – 03/13/2023 – Sport

An international suspension, contested in the CAS (Corte Arbitral do Sport), turned into a political fight between the presidents of CBSk (Brazilian Skateboarding Confederation) and the COB (Brazilian Olympic Committee) a little over a year before the Paris Olympics.

For alleging problems in holding the World Skate in Brazil last year, World Skate, the entity that regulates the sport, suspended Eduardo Musa, CBKS representative, for three years. For the leader, the punishment has no legal backing.

He expected support from the COB but, instead, he was also suspended by the Brazilian body.

“Paulo Wanderley [presidente do COB] only thinks about politics, only thinks about voting. The COB is subordinate to the IOC [Comitê Olímpico Internacional]to WADA [agência que regula os processos antidoping], not World Skate. Paulo Wanderley gave a personal interpretation to my suspension”, complains Musa.

consulted by Sheetthe COB sent a note in which it claims to have limited itself to complying with the decision of the “International Federation of the modality, which suspended the leader from his activities”.

Musa contests this view because, he says, there is no item in the COB statute that obliges him to remove leaders, even more so without a defense process. Even the Pelé Law limits this type of punishment to the sporting sphere.

The report asked the committee to comment on this aspect and received no response. But the entity declared that “all projects carried out together with CBSk remain unchanged in order to maintain the preparation of skaters affiliated to it. It is not up to the committee to review decisions of international entities, but only to comply with them, since the COB is part of the International Sport System as a Member of the Olympic Movement”.

Musa says he believes this is a political issue because, in the last election for the presidency of the COB, the confederation did not vote for Paulo Wanderley.

“The COB cannot remove me from the presidency. Who can remove me is the assembly [da CBSk]. We scheduled one and my stay was unanimously approved. The COB would have to carry out an internal process, with a defense deadline and go to the assembly. We asked them for clarification and they sent a letter which is a great ‘sambarilove’ [enrolação]. It does not indicate the power of the COB to remove me from the presidency”, completes Musa.

In the letter, the Committee even cites the Olympic letter, a document that establishes the principles of the Olympic movement.

Brazil won three skate medals in Tokyo-2020. Rayssa Leal, Pedro Barros and Kevin Hoefler won silver. Rayssa is one of the main favorites for gold in Paris-2024 and one of the greatest Brazilian athletes of today.

The suspension of World Skate happened because CBSk signed an agreement with a company to hold the World Skate in the country last year. The contract said that the confederation would not have any financial obligation with the holding of the event because it did not know if it would renew the sponsorship contract with Caixa Econômica Federal.

“We did not participate in any round of negotiations that had to do with financial resources,” said Musa.

World Skate did not get along with the contracted company and it was decided, about 30 days before the start, that the competition would not take place in Brazil. CBSk decided to support the realization in Rio de Janeiro anyway. Then came the suspension.

“When I asked for World Skate’s investigation documentation to defend myself, the answer I received was: you know what you did”, completes the suspended president.

Musa filed a lawsuit at CAS and is waiting for a response. For him, the punishment was not because of the World Cup. This is a bigger issue. Brazil is a focus of resistance to the determination that skateboarding is under the administration of the same entity that controls other wheel sports such as hockey and rollerblading, among others.

“Do you think it’s justifiable, for example, that basketball is organized by the volleyball federation because both are played with balls? Skateboarding has nothing to do with skates and scooters, except the training wheels. The people who control skateboarding don’t know what are they doing there”, he complains.

A Sheet attempted to contact World Skate by phone and email but received no response.