Dear Mr. President,
In these last days I have received many e-mails from athletes and other representatives of the American Federation who expressed their fear of coming to Italy to attend the World Championships after the tragic events occurred last Tuesday in New York and consequently asked to cancel or postpone the event.
I would like to point out that this is not an option: Andres and I - as well as the majority of the people involved - do not want the Worlds to be neither cancelled nor postponed. We have to give a clear signal that we are not going to surrender to fear; I am perfectly aware that America and the whole world is shocked but America is a great nation and it will recover from this.
We have to react and trust our institutions that are working to guarantee the safety of everyone: the airports are almost patroled now and every possible measure has been taken to make the American flights (and all other flights) safe. Let me add that in Europe in general, and in Italy in particular, we have never been the target of the Islamic extremists and after the sad happenings of last week also here the government has implemented strong safety measures.
The Italian Federation assured me that they have already contacted the local Prefecture that assured the presence of the police force at the site for all the duration of the competition. Everything has been done in order to make these Worlds as safe as possible and I have to stress again the fact that here in Italy there is no emergency as far as possible terrorists attacks are concerned.
Of course there will be some inconveniences for those who travel, I have read the e-mails of the people who complain about the time it took for them to clear customs etc. but all this has to be taken into account and accepted because it is exactly part of the safety measures that everyone is requesting.
The eventual absence of some athletes will not hinder the realization of these worlds: the fact that we are going to stick to the enagagements already taken shows that we are not going to yield to the logic of the terrorists.
Therefore I confirm that the Worlds WILL BE HELD from September 25th to 30th.
Sincerely,
Graziano Tognala
Secretary General
International Water Ski Federation (IWSF)