Olympic Summit supports IOC stand against politicisation of Olympic Games, sport

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Lausanne, Dec 11 (IANS) The 10th Olympic Summit on Saturday firmly stood behind the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over its stand against any politicisation of the Olympic Games and sport, and "strongly emphasised the need for the political neutrality of the IOC, the Olympic Games and the entire Olympic Movement".

The one-day Olympic Summit, organised by the IOC to discuss various issues related to the Olympic movement, expressed support for IOC's stand in the wake of more members announcing diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Beijing over China's record on human rights issue and lack of free speech in the country.

The various issues related to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games was discussed during the one-day 10th Olympic Summit, which was held virtually and chaired by the IOC president Thomas Bach. The summit was informed about the preparations for the Games and they also discussed the announcement by the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada of a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games, which was termed as a "political decision" by IOC.

"The Summit stands firmly against any politicisation of the Olympic Games and sport, and strongly emphasised the need for the political neutrality of the IOC, the Olympic Games and the entire Olympic Movement," the IOC informed on Saturday.

The Summit participants welcomed the strong support for the Games by the UN Member States, which adopted the Olympic Truce Resolution by consensus of all 193 Member States. In addition, the Resolution was co-sponsored by 173 UN Member States, the release said.

The Summit was updated on the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, which will be the first Olympic Games to be fully organised and benefitting from the reforms of Olympic Agenda 2020. These Games will be sustainable, inclusive, urban, youth-oriented, and gender-equal. The Organising Committee has the ambition for the Games to be the first climate-positive Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The youth-oriented initial sports programme for the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 was welcomed by the participants. It will build on the success of Tokyo 2020 with 28 initial sports on the programme, including the new sports of skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing, to be submitted for approval at the upcoming IOC Session.

A pathway for potential inclusion by the IOC Session in 2023 has been provided to boxing (AIBA), weightlifting (IWF) and modern pentathlon (UIPM), subject to the fulfilment of conditions specific to each of them, the Summit was informed.

The Summit appreciated that International Federations (IFs) and Continental Associations of National Olympic Committees (NOCs) will have the offer to create a direct Olympic association with the Olympic qualifying events. This will also benefit the athletes who participate in these events. The Olympic Summit supported the comprehensive offers for the development of dedicated Olympic qualifying brands for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and the use of the Olympic digital broadcast platforms, the release said.

Besides senior IOC officials, the 10th Olympic Summit was attended by representative of important international sports federations, representatives of national olympic committees of the United States,China and Russia and also representatives of international continental federations and associations working for summer and winter Olympic Games sports associations.

--IANS

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