Is this a Fair Play conflict of interest?

The readers of Bulletin#4 of the World Cup Round 2 were in for a surprise as I was informed by some of the athletes: half of the courses were planned by the head coach of a competing national team, a piece of information that was not disclosed in previous bulletins.

This may look like a serious conflict of interest and appears to fly against the Fair Play and Ethics efforts of the IOF launched officially in 2020. The Fair Play Principles for Event Organisers is specific about not allocating persons with a potential conflict of interest to key positions with access to secret/confidential event information.

The question is how shall we reconcile these pieces of information. There could be three possible options considering that a wilful breach of the IOF Fair Play Principles is unimaginable by a respected nation:
a) The organisers and the IOF (represented by the Senior Event Adviser) were not aware of any potential conflict of interest;
b) This is not a potential conflict of interest, just an optical illusion;
c) This might be a potential conflict of interest, but we trust the people involved, they are from a respected nation. How dare you to insinuate them?

Considering, that the 2020 General Assembly’s resolution includes the resolve to “clarify norms, rules, guidelines and enforcement mechanisms to secure the fairness of competitions” I decided to write this evening to people who might help to shed light on this situation:
– the World Cup Organisers
– IOF Event Adviser
– IOF President
– IOF General Secretary
– Chair of FootO Commission
– Chair of Rules Commission
– Chair of Ethics Panel
– FootO reps of the Athletes Commission

I hope to get answers to the following questions:
Is it a potential conflict of interest if the coach of a national team is the course setter on a major IOF event?
If not, what could be considered a potential conflict of interest for course setters?
If yes, what should be done about the upcoming event and what should be done regarding the breach of IOF Fair Play principles?

I will share the replies on this blog for the edification of the orienteering public.

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On a personal note, I know very well that International Orienteering prides itself on being a sport of Fair Play. Deep trust in Fair Play is a cornerstone of orienteering. Yet it had a number of openly acknowledged fair play with developing nations and even more issues with respected nations – when the IOF leadership was busy looking away. For a refresher on practical Fair Play in orienteering, one can look not only at the unfortunate events in China, but also at a Danish spectator, a Swedish trailer, a Scottish map maker, education on in-forest cooperation and practice, or Swiss course setter selection practices and results.