September 3rd—5th 1925 — Prague 28th FISA congress The meeting was held in the large council chamber of Prague town hall. The guests were welcomed by the minister for physical education and the mayor of Prague. Present: 23 delegates from 9 federations. Among these delegates figured for the first time Jerzy Loth, who was to be Poland’s IOC member from 1948 to 1961, then honorary member until his death in 1967. A doctor of philosophy from Cracow University, he had been a skilled oarsman, and then became an efficient rowing club president. In his report, President Baud stated with pride that EISA’s authority was highly respected in certain non- affiliated countries. “Our Statutes serve as models, and FISA officials are consulted on frequent occasions. So, thanks to the experience which we have acquired over more than thirty years, our supremacy will slowly be come recognised,” he said. “That day is perhaps not very far off. We shall see countries not yet affiliated beg ging for admission.” The responsibilities of the FISA codncil were defined as follows: to ensure the efficient organization of interna tional regattas and the strict observance of the Statutes, the Rules of Racing and Regulations for European championships. The council could ask the federations’ headquarters for reports on the international regattas which they wished to run, or which they had already or ganised. It would have the right to intervene each time an international meeting did not satisfy the requirements of the Statutes, Rules of Racing aqd Regulations for cham pionships. In European championships, oarsmen had to be sub jects of the nations which they were representing. The use of a still or cine-camera to record finishes was rejected by nine votes to one. Regarding the organization of the Olympic Games, president Baud told of FISA’s efforts to unify the atti tudes adopted by the international federations. If FISA were to agree to participate, it would be on the under standing that other authorities must not dictate or seek to impose rules of an organizational or technical nature without prior consultation. During the important Olympic congress meeting in Prague, from May 29th to June 4th 1925, FISA had suc ceeded in setting up a preliminary meeting between the officials of all the Olympic federations, in order to have the above point of view ratified. The report proposed by FISA ran as follows: “Representatives of international federations, if we want to continue to contribute to the or ganization of the Olympic Games, we must make our wishes heard and, if necessary, impose them. We can only hope to achieve this by reaching prior agreement on all matters. Let us affirm boldly that only our unity and efficiency can ensure the future success of the Olympic Games.” This was to lead to the recognition of the 60 international federations’ technical ability to organise the Olympic competitions. Indeed, during the 1926 Inter national Olympic Committee’s meeting in Lisbon, the following resolution was passed: “The International fed erations whose technical regulations are to be applied will: decide on the number of events for each sport, after reaching agreement with the executive commission of the IOC ; fix, each within its own sport, the number of entries for each event within the framework of the limits established by the general rules; have control of the in stallations, as well as the technical control of the racing; appoint race juries, umpires and appeal juries; hear pro tests and give the final decision ...” The Egyptian federation was unanimously granted affili ation as an extraordinary member. The subscription for 1926 was fixed at 300 gold-francs. On September 5th, the delegates met in the Slavia row ing club to hear the reading of the minutes, as had by then become the custom, taking note of the latest com ments before approving them. Menu of the dinner given by the Czechoslovakian Federation of Rowing Clubs: Neapolitan consomme, cold salmon with mayonnaise, fillet of beef, mixed vegetables, saute potatoes, lobster vol-au-vents, roast chicken forestiere, stewed fruits, fresh apples, diplomat pudding, various desserts, Moka... Drinks: Pilsner beer, wines, Zeltinger Schlossberg, Chateau Melnik. An excellent orchestra played throughout the meal. September 5th and 6th 1925 — Prague 2 7th men’s European championships Under the patronage of the President of the Republic, Tamas Garrigue Masaryk, these championships were the first to take place in Czechoslovakia, the attempt at or ganising them there in 1897 having fallen through. The rowing course was situated upstream from Prague, on the Vltava, the country’s main river, 20 minutes from the city centre. The course was 2,000 metres long and completely straight, with each hundred metres marked out on stones on the embankments. Half way down the course, the river divided into three branches, the central one of which formed the rowing course. For the last thou sand metres, then, the races passed between two islands. To provide public access, they had gone so far as to build two pontoon bridges out of boats! These were necessary, anyway, for how else could the 20,000 or 25,000 spec tators who were there on the first day have crossed? Tele phones, loud speakers, results boards, signal masts to re lay the position of racing crews at any given moment, etc., worked well. Large paying enclosures contained two rows of numbered seats for more than 600 metres along the water’s edge. Everywhere was full. The spectators ar rived by tram, boat, train and car. They thronged the hills, the embankment, the rooftops, all the bridges which afforded a view of the rowing course, even from a kilometre away. The delegates were provided with a
