Originally posted by joefox
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I think that when Kirk Krack and the other guys of the CAFA got the championship (the other candidate was Egypt, wasn't it?) they started working really hard to set up the best competition they could. I guess they expected and deserved a different partecipation, and if I were CAFA I would never organize another WC in the future. I would feel... sort of betrayed.
Maybe the economic problem should have been taken into account when it was time to decide between Canada and the other candidate?
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Joefox [/B]
Actually, we're quite keen on hosting the World Championships again and we're actively wondering when would be a good time to do so. We have learned so much over the past year that it would be a shame to do this only once. Also, CAFA now has an international reputation for putting on good competitions so I expect that we would have a much higher participation rate the next time around.
It's true that all of us who were there would have liked to have had more athletes. Unfortunately as organizers we can only build it; we can't force the athletes to come.
We knew about all of the factors stacked against us when we put in our bid. We staked our organizational ability against Egypt's blue water and proximity to Europe. The members of the AIDA assembly took all factors into consideration when voting for the host.
Keep in mind that last year's AIDA Individual World Championships in Turkey was cancelled because the organizers couldn't get it together. Compared to last year, Vancouver was a big success. Even compared to 2001, Vancouver was a big success. People remember the poor organization and the loss of Italy much more than they remember the number of participants.
I'm sure that in the long run that a small, well run competiton puts AIDA in a better situation than a large poorly run or cancelled competition. Just as we borrowed some ideas from Howard Jones and his monkeys, future organizers will borrow from us. CAFA and the DeeperBlue staff got some great images too so it should be easier to get sponsorship in the future. The participation numbers will automatically follow.
Tom Lightfoot
CAFA Vice President and Webmaster
www.freedivecanada.com
www.aidaworlds2004.com