Calling Lausanne Home
Maybe not quite as exotic but every bit as exquisite as the one at the Gardens by the Beach restaurant last year in Singapore, the gala dinner at the Royal Savoy delighted the delegates and observers attending the 2018 General Meeting in Lausanne. Prior to the first course, a lime-marinated Tahitian tuna salad, WDSF President Lukas Hinder addressed the approximately 200 guests present in the very ballroom where today's General Meeting will take place.
Here is Hinder's short dinner speech!
Dear Friends in DanceSport!
This has been our day one in the Olympic Capital. Some of us are here for the very first time, some return after our General Meeting in 2004. But all of us should feel differently about this visit as – on this occasion – the World DanceSport Federation is coming home to Lausanne.
What a reception we have received earlier today, when the President of the International Olympic Committee has welcomed us and helped us to assess the decisions we have taken over the past few years.
He confirmed that we are on the right track by embracing Olympic values. Inclusiveness, my friends, is just one of them. As Thomas Bach has pointed out, the difference between sports and business is that the former must uphold determined values that can be thrown by the wayside in business. Let’s remain sport!
I will commit this day to my memory as one of the most remarkable in my twenty years of involvement in this federation. I am sure that some of you will do the same thing. I understand that some hold a different view on our Olympic aspirations, I respect that they voice their opinion, too.
Where we fell short of living up to the demanding terms of our noble sport was in the way we conducted part of our debate – particularly at the end of the Forum. I clearly see room for improvement in tomorrow’s General Meeting. Let’s express our opinions in the decisive debate in a less aggressive manner and maintain respect for each other.
I am sure that tonight we are all on the same side as we sit down for a gala dinner at this fabulous hotel. I raise my glass to toast all my friends in DanceSport, regardless how they prefer to have it defined. Santé, Salute, Gesundheit and Cheers
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