For the first time Istanbul will be hosting a Congress of the International Luge Federation (FIL). The delegates of the 52 official member federations meet for the 61st annual meeting of the Olympic sports federation in the metropolis on the Bosporus on June 28-29, 2013.
In the focus at the Congress are the reports by President Josef Fendt (Germany) and Secretary General Svein Romstad (USA) as well as the state of preparations for the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia on February 7-23, 2014 in the upcoming 2013-2014 season. There will be no elections. However, different events on artificially refrigerated and natural tracks will be allocated.
With Turkey, a FIL member federation since 2009, the total number of countries who have hosted a FIL Congress now stands at 20 (AUT, BUL, BRA, CAN, CZE, FRA, GER /including FRG + GDR, GRE, ITA, JPN, YUG, LAT, NOR, POL, RUS, SUI, SVK, SWE, TUR, USA). “Record venues” are Innsbruck (Austria) and Berchtesgaden (Germany) who have hosted five Congresses so far. The first FIL Congress took place in Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy) on February 6, 1953. Last year, the FIL convened in Riga (Latvia). The next elections are due at the 2014 Congress that will be hosted by Innsbruck.
Istanbul is the most populous city in Turkey, a center for culture, trade, finance and media. The metropolitan area extends to the northern shore of the Sea of Marmara to both sides of the Bosporus, the straits between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. With Thrace in Europe and Anatolia in Asia, Istanbul is the only metropolis in the world that embraces two continents
