Gwenda Stevens Appointed to the World Sport for All Board

World Sport for All – Fédération Internationale du Sport pour Tous (FISpT) announces the appointment of Gwenda Stevens to its Board. Following the Board’s decision to co-opt her, the General Assembly subsequently approved the appointment, confirming her status as a full Board Member.

Stevens brings decades of experience in sports governance, Olympic leadership, international officiating, and grassroots development. Her career spans competitive rowing, youth and recreational coaching, national federation leadership, and senior responsibilities within the international sports movement. She currently serves as Vice-President of the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee (BOIC), President of the International Federation for Sports Officials (IFSO), and President of the Coupe de la Jeunesse.

Stevens has been a member of the BOIC Board since June 2017 and of its Executive Board since 2021, becoming Vice-President in June 2025. She also chairs its Sports Officials Commission and serves on its Gender Equity Commission – Women & Sports and its Remuneration Commission. These responsibilities bring together experience in institutional governance, the development of sports officials, and gender equity.

Her leadership within Belgian rowing includes twelve years as President of the Royal Belgian Rowing Federation, from February 2013 to March 2025, following earlier terms as Secretary-General and Vice-President. Since March 2025, she has served as the federation’s Vice-President and Honorary President. She is also Vice-President of the Vlaamse Roeiliga, where she has been a Board Member since 2002.

At international level, Stevens became President of IFSO in January 2025, after serving as Vice-President from March 2018 to December 2024. In August 2025, she assumed the presidency of the Coupe de la Jeunesse, having previously served as its Technical Advisor and Secretary-General.

A World Rowing umpire since August 2004, Stevens officiated at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In January 2026, she became a member of the European Rowing Umpiring Commission, adding a further dimension to her international responsibilities in officiating.

Her involvement in international rowing also includes membership of World Rowing’s Rowing for All Commission from 2006 to 2011, participation in World Rowing congresses, and service as Belgium’s official delegate to the Coupe de la Jeunesse from 2005 to 2016.

Stevens’ sporting career began as a competitive rower from 1978 to 1989. She won twelve Belgian Championship titles and represented Belgium in the quadruple sculls at the 1984 World Junior Championships in Jönköping, Sweden.

Alongside her administrative and international responsibilities, she maintained a longstanding commitment to club-level sport. At Koninklijke Roeivereniging Sport Gent, she has been a Board Member since 1999 and Vice-President since 2005. Between 1999 and 2015, she held youth and recreational rowing coaching roles, including five years as Head Youth Coach. This experience connects her leadership background with the practical delivery of sport in local communities.

Stevens joins the FISpT Board with experience across the sporting pathway: from grassroots participation and youth coaching to national federation governance and Olympic-level officiating. Her previous service on the Rowing for All Commission, together with her work in gender equity and sports officials’ development, offers a relevant foundation for contributing to the federation’s activities.

World Sport for All welcomes Gwenda Stevens to the Board and looks forward to her contribution to strengthening international cooperation, widening participation, and supporting the continued development of Sport for All.