Olympic Preparatory Director Toni Ripoll Fired

The alleged financial irregularities, disastrous management, and the dismissal of Olympic Preparatory Director Toni Ripoll last Tuesday have led to a turning point for officials, coaches, and athletes who have proposed a vote of no confidence against current president José Ángel Rodríguez.

Faced with an unsustainable situation, Rodríguez Santos created the so-called Executive Committee of the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation last Tuesday in a board meeting attended by himself, three of his vice presidents, and the Secretary General.

One of the decisions made was the dismissal of Toni Ripoll and the appointment of Alejandro Abascal and Santiago López Vázquez to find solutions to the current sports problems together with Vice President Helga Garcés, who was appointed as responsible for Olympic Sports on the same day.

The decision is surprising since it was Miguel Ángel Rodríguez himself who appointed Toni Ripoll, one of the most acclaimed technicians in the sailing world, as Olympic Preparatory Director on February 1, 2013, with an annual salary of 60,000 euros and validity until January 30, 2017, replacing Santi López Vázquez, who now returns to the position.

Yesterday, the response to this anomalous situation came when Julia Casanueva, president of the Cantabrian Sailing Federation and vice president of the Spanish Federation, who was dismissed by the president on June 1st, and Guillermo Poyán, president of the Madrid Sailing Federation, presented a vote of no confidence. They were representing the territorial presidents who had met on Thursday in Madrid to consider this motion.

The motion has the total support of 35 votes from territorial federations, their clubs, and athletes, surpassing the 27 votes needed to present it to the Federation for the assembly to approve the motion.

José Ángel Rodríguez Santos, president of the Galician Federation and economic vice president of the RFEV during Gerardo Pombo's mandate (2002-2012), was elected president of the Spanish Sailing Federation on December 17, 2012, in the assembly where he received 59 votes against the 16 of his only rival, Francisco Coro from Andalusia.

The vote of no confidence comes, according to its supporters, after exhausting all attempts to have a dialogue, find understanding, and reach solutions with the president of the federation, and due to the total absence of any response from Rodríguez.

The motion was presented yesterday at the Spanish Sailing Federation (RFEV) and later at the Higher Sports Council (CSD).

Casanueva has offered to chair the board that will try to get the Federation out of the crisis, and has committed not to run in the upcoming elections, which will be held in 2016. She has also insisted that if there is someone within the reform movement who wants to assume the presidency, she would pass on the reins without any problems.

This motion also comes after the rejection of the annual accounts presented by the president in the assembly on June 6th, by the Autonomous Federations, clubs, coaches, and athletes.

The president's high salary, 86,494 euros per year plus 50,000 euros in representation expenses, is now considered excessive, despite being approved by the assembly at the time.

The Spanish Sailing Federation has been under suspicion of irregularities for some time. Months ago, a group of assembly members denounced Rodríguez Santos for the way in which his salary was set. The regulations state that the president must propose the gross salary annually at the General Assembly, independently of the other items and as an independent point on the agenda. The complainants claimed that Rodríguez Santos omitted all these steps and allegedly falsified the minutes.

The president of the RFEV is the fifth highest-paid federation president in Spain. The figure stands out in an organization that receives 77 percent of its budget from the CSD (52%) and the Ado Program (25%) and is subject to a viability plan to overcome financial difficulties.

Other irregularities also stand out, such as the salaries of Toni Ripoll, the former Olympic preparatory director (60,000 euros), and Alejandro Abascal, the director of CEAR Príncipe Felipe (54,766.92 euros), since the maximum for technical officials of a federation is 50,000 euros.

In addition, there are irregular dismissals, declared null and void because they were paid for with public aid for workforce restructuring.

Another issue that has been denounced for some time by prestigious lawyer and former president of the RFEV, Arturo Delgado, is the issue of the Spanish Sailing Foundation of the RFEV. An explanation has been requested, but there has been no response from either the RFEV, the Foundation Authority, or the CSD.

The Foundation was created in late 1998 by Arturo Delgado, and when he left the federation, he left it with funds of 150,250 euros (25,000,000 Spanish pesetas) and ready to receive more funds, which happened, reaching 781,315 euros (130,000,000 Spanish pesetas) thanks to the agreement signed by Delgado himself with the America's Cup Society, with the support of Pedro Campos, when said Society was dissolved.

Delgado has described the situation as looting of the Foundation and also of the Federation, which he left, as he explains: "with funds of 1,262,073 euros (209,825,000 Spanish pesetas) and assets of 1,723,792 euros (286,815,000 Spanish pesetas)."