The Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) held its extraordinary congress in Brazil last week, where changes to the organization’s constitution were its main order of business. Among the changes approved by the attendees were term limits for the role of PASO president, as well as a restructuring of vote allocation.
In terms of voting, all 41 PASO members will have one vote in the election of host cities and all Executive Committee positions, it was determined, while the 10 nations who have previously hosted the Pan American Games will each receive one additional vote. This differs from today’s environment where the Pan American Games hosts received an extra vote for each time they have hosted the Games, up to a maximum of 5. With the ruling change, the voting power of larger nations has effectively been reduced to a degree.
Additionally, the proposal to stipulate PASO Presidential candidates must have “at least three years of experience immediately preceding their nomination as a President, vice-president or secretary general of their respective National Olympic Committees (NOC) or must be the incumbent President of PASO at the time of being nominated and elected” was rejected.
Both proposed changes are now submitted to the international Olympic Committee (IOC) for final approval.
Another outcome revealed during the series of meetings is the fact that current PASO and FINA President, Julio Maglione, will not seek re-election as PASO President. With his FINA Presidency coming up for re-election later this year, Maglione has cited wanting to focus on that element of his career.
Yes, Julio will focus on re-election to a position he once swore he would not run for again. How many decades is it now that I’ve been able to unreservedly respect the people running FINA?