Innsbruck (RWH) The President of the International Luge Federation (FIL), Josef Fendt, is approaching his sixth term of office. The 66-year-old from Berchtesgaden (Germany), elected to this position for the first time in Rome in 1994 as successor to FIL founding president Bert Isatitsch (AUT), will be the only candidate at the 62nd FIL Congress in Innsbruck, Austria on June 21, 2014.
>br> “It would be a great honor and pleasure to serve FIL another four years,” said the silver medalist at the 1976 Olympic Games, who served in different positions at 12 Olympic Winter Games. This is why Germany’s international news agency DPA (Deutsche-Presse-Agentur) celebrated him as “Mr. Olympia” at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi (Russia). In the past 20 years of his term of office, the two-time World Champion (1970 and 1974) changed FIL into a modern organization.

Under Fendt’s leadership the number of member federations reached 53 nations. Thanks to the professional management in the Viessmann Luge World Cup series as a flagship event the sport of luge has become an integral part of the Olympic Winter Games program. A lot of attention was given to the Sochi premiere of the FIL Team Relay event that was aggressively promoted by Fendt.

During his term of office luge doubled its TV presence, publications in the print media continuously increased and there is a remarkable consistency in the commitment of sponsors – since 1996, main sponsor Viessmann has been partner of the FIL. Additionally, BMW Germany is one of the most important FIL partners - apart from Eberspächer, adidas, uvex, DKB and Swiss Timing - since the Olympic winter.