Einars Fogelis elected as new FIL President / Dwight Bell now Secretary General

Großgmain (FIL): The delegates of the 68th FIL Congress elected FIL Secretary General Einars Fogelis (Latvia) as the new President of the International Luge Federation on November 20th 2020. Dwight Bell (USA) was elected to succeed him as Secretary General. For the Executive Board member from the USA Sorin Buta (ROM) was newly elected to the FIL Executive Board. Sorin Buta narrowly beat Steven Harris (CAN) in the secret ballot.

For the first time in the 63-year history of the International Winter Sports Federation, the FIL World Congress took place in a video conference. The majority of the members of the Executive Board were present in the Austrian town of Großgmain. The delegates of the 52 national member federations voted online using an electronic voting system (secret and anonymous).

The new President, Einars Fogelis, had been Secretary General of the FIL since the 2018 FIL Congress in Bratislava (Slovakia). Before, the 60-year-old Latvian served as Vice-President for Technical Affairs from 1994 to 2018.

Josef Fendt vacated the position of FIL President after 26 years. Overall, Fendt has served on the FIL Executive Board for 36 years.

President Fogelis expressed his thanks: “I am very pleased about the trust placed in me by the delegates of our National Federations and I would like to express my sincere thanks! Today, however, my special thanks go to the long-time President Josef Fendt, with whom I had the opportunity to work and learn together for two years as Secretary General and since 1994 in the FIL Executive Board”.

On the national level, Einars Fogelis had been Vice-President of the Latvian Olympic Committee since 2012 and President of the Council of Latvian Sports Federations since 2014. Einars Fogelis holds a master's degree in engineering and social sciences. From 1983 to 1994 he was the Track Manager, Chief Engineer and Director of the Sigulda Bobsleigh and Luge Track (LAT). From 1994 to 2004 he was Director of the Sports Department of the Latvian Ministry of Education. From 2004 to 2012 he served as General Secretary of the Latvian Olympic Committee and since 2012 he has been Director of the Latvian Olympic Team.

Einars Fogelis is married, has one daughter and two sons. His hobbies are mountain biking, tennis, SUP, skiing, the theatre and travelling.