Sarah Lewis running to lead the ski federation that fired her

GENEVA – Sarah Lewis is out to make a stunning comeback in sports activities politics, declaring herself a candidate to develop into the primary feminine president of the Worldwide Ski Federation solely six months after being fired from her function as secretary basic.

Lewis, who introduced her candidacy on Tuesday, spent 20 years as the highest administrator at FIS earlier than being ousted a number of months into the coronavirus pandemic.

It was an abrupt exit even within the usually ruthless world of operating Olympic sports activities our bodies, and for one among its most outstanding feminine officers who was untouched by scandal.

The FIS assertion of just one sentence final October defined the choice was “primarily based on an entire lack of confidence” in Lewis – although that phrase was quickly deleted from its web site.

Among the many first messages despatched to Lewis after her firing requested merely: “Who did you kill? Did you rob a financial institution?” she instructed The Related Press forward of launching her election marketing campaign.

For added intrigue, one election opponent within the on-line vote set for June 4, Mats Arjes of Sweden, was a member of the FIS Council that eliminated her.

Arjes is a FIS vp and is seen as the popular alternative of president Gian Franco Kasper, who’s leaving one 12 months early after 23 years in workplace. Swiss ski federation president Urs Lehmann, a former downhill world champion, can be a candidate.

Lewis’ ambition to succeed her long-time boss was recognized lately to FIS observers. However Kasper was thought unlikely to endorse the previous skier who competed on the 1988 Calgary Olympics.

Nonetheless, her ousting as secretary basic was a shock. It got here amid the pandemic, which twice delayed FIS elections, heaped work on employees in Switzerland, and threatened the winter sports activities season.

“I can’t clarify it in any respect. I used to be so targeted on the COVID season,” Lewis instructed the AP in a phone interview. “I used to be most likely blind-sided that there have been politics occurring behind the scenes.”

So why run for president of a corporation whose prime committee rejected her?

“I had so many individuals contact me and so many messages of help,” Lewis stated, “all this religion and perception that I’m the suitable individual for it.”

Her work ethic and a focus to element is proven by writing letters prior to now week in 25 completely different languages to focus on voters.

The previous six months additionally gave her time for soul-searching and to mirror on her working fashion, which she acknowledges was intense and may very well be “overpowering.”

“I’m not with out fault. You understand that isn’t one of the simplest ways,” stated Lewis, who has since paid her approach via a enterprise management course. “It was necessary to study myself and my weaknesses so that individuals really feel I’ve made this transition.”

The British ski federation opted to not help Lewis as candidate and earlier than the pandemic nominated the billionaire chief of ski model Head, Johan Eliasch. Although Eliasch is Swedish, he’s primarily based in London and has been a enterprise affiliate of Prince Andrew.

Lewis is positioning as a worldwide candidate, relying on robust relationships with previous and future Winter Olympic host nations Russia, South Korea and China.

She turned to a smaller ski nation, Belgium, for a proper election nomination. The transfer was supported by the nation’s Olympic chief, IOC member Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant.

Striving for gender fairness is a contemporary mantra for the Worldwide Olympic Committee, and Lewis names Mikaela Shiffrin, Eileen Gu and Therese Johaug amongst snowboarding’s greatest latest stars.

Nevertheless, FIS has had solely male presidents in its 97-year historical past, and Kasper is simply the fourth. The council which fired Lewis at present includes 18 males and one lady.

“It’s very simple to repair,” stated Lewis, including many succesful girls can not rise inside FIS as a result of their nation already has a person in a senior place.

This doesn’t imply a Lewis presidency would act towards people who eliminated her.

“I don’t have any concern in any respect with anybody who was concerned in that call,” she insisted. “There aren’t any grudges.”