Pat McQuaid, the President of the International Cycling Union (UCI) has been appointed to the board of SportAccord, a pan-sport organisation formerly known as the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF). The organisation brings together the international federations of Olympic and non-Olympic sports “to move a step forward, reorganise itself and develop a global strategy to leverage on sport unity and better face today’s sports challenges,” according to its website.
McQuaid’s appointment comes just days after he was reconfirmed as a vice-president of the Association of Summer Olympic Sports (ASOIF).
On his election McQuaid stated that: "this designation shows once again that cycling is recognized as a very important player in the international sports movement."
McQuaid’s assertion that cycling is a very important player international sports is reflected in the fact that the current president of SportAccord is his predecessor at the UCI, Hein Verbruggen.
Since handing over the reins of the UCI to McQuaid in 2005, Verbruggen has been heavily involved at various levels of the Olympic movement; his highest profile post was that of Chairman of the Coordination Commission for the Beijing games of 2008. He is now an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
In recent years Verbruggen’s tenure as UCI president has come under the spotlight, with the BBC alleging corruption over the inclusion of the Keirin in the Olympic Games. In May of last year Verbruggen was central to a number of the accusations levelled by disgraced American rider Floyd Landis, who alleged that Verbruggen had accepted a bribe to cover up a positive test from Lance Armstrong in 2002.
US federal investigators are looking into the various claims Landis made in relation to prefessional cycling. In an interview earlier this year with Cycling Weekly, McQuaid categorically denied any corruption took place within the UCI itself, but conceded that 'a lot of the stuff he said in relation to what went on in those years is probably true.' Verbruggen has said that no bribe was paid.