Ski base accused of authoritarian leadership

There are storms around the Swedish base of Vis and billionaire Johan Elias.

The process surrounding the election of the president was reported to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

He is now also accused of authoritarian leadership, by Sweden and others, at the same time as the struggle for power is about to erupt.

It’s top-down and there’s not enough impact, says Karen Matson, president of the Swedish Ski Association.

At the end of May it became John Eliasch He was re-elected president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (Fis) for another four years, after a stormy vote.

First, the voting procedure had to be boycotted after protests over the fact that it was not possible to vote “no” when Johan Elias was the only candidate. When the voting resumed, representatives of several member states left the hall.

Eliash received 70 yes votes and cast 47 votes.

The voting process has since been resumed before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) by heavy skating nations Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Croatia.

Authoritarian and from top to bottom

This is just part of a larger storm that has raged around Johan Elias and his leadership, who have been accused of being authoritarian and top-down.

Criticism comes from Sweden, among others:

If you are going to lead a member organization with many countries, it is essential that you work with change and communicate and that members understand what is happening. to be with you. Here we don’t recognize ourselves that way at work, says Karen Matson, president of the Swedish Ski Association.

She likens it to the fact that Fis has been running as a company for the past year. Johan Eliasch has a background from the business world (he is the CEO of a ski company).

– It is too descending and there is not enough effect. It is important here to do this in such a way that you have the members with you. Then you can’t always agree or think the same thing. But you have to feel the impact in the process, says Karen Mattson, who continues:

– We will be more active in this case. We are also told that Johan Elias will start a dialogue with our affiliates after the summer. We are positive about it.

correct vote

She emphasized that Swedish criticism is about the leadership of Johan Elias, not how the election of the president was designed.

– We cannot say that something was done wrong because there was no opposition. According to Swedish association tradition, you cannot vote “no,” says Karin Matson and stresses that Sweden is not behind the appeal to Kass.

Karen Mattson does not want to reveal how Sweden voted because it was a secret ballot.

power struggle

At the same time, there are indications of a power struggle erupting in Fez, with much to suggest Urs Lehmann, president of the Swiss Ski Federation, is the main opponent.

A year ago, he was one of the opposition candidates when Johan Elias was elected president of Fis when Gian Franco Casper resigned due to health reasons.

Since Urs Lehmann was a driving force in the application to Cas, it is expected that he will eventually challenge Johan Elias.

When asked about this question, Swede Mats Orges, a member of the Fi Board of Directors, diplomatically replied:

At least there are many who believe him.

Johan Elias answers

Johann Elias answers in writing to TT’s questions, which relate, among other things, to his pursuit of an authoritarian leadership:

“My door is always open and I am available to all associations and stakeholders. We even set up working groups where unions were represented and we exchanged opinions on important future topics.”

“At the same time, I was elected a year ago because I stood up for change and everyone recognized the need for modernization. Change is never easy, but it is essential to lead our sport in the years to come. The task now is to implement that change together.”