Highly qualified athletes who are refugees will be allowed to compete in the Olympic Games for the first time in 2016, the president of the International Olympic Committee announced Monday.
IOC chief Thomas Bach made the announcement to the U.N. General Assembly, which adopted a resolution urging all countries to stop fighting and observe a truce during the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. …
Click PLAY or watch Bach on YouTube.
The 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly today approved a resolution for observance of the Olympic Truce for the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro next summer. The resolution was supported by 180 out of 193 UN member states. …
The resolution calls for the Olympic Truce to be respected from seven days before the start of the Olympic Games until seven days after the Paralympic Games.
During his address to the General Assembly, the President also appealed for help from the member nations to identify top-level athletes who are currently refugees. …
The IOC could ban Saudi Arabia, for example, in protest of women’s rights in that nation. Building a wall. OR … they could try to reward what Saudi Arabia did at the London Olympics – sending 2 female athletes for the first time – along with 17 male athletes.
I was on the bus today at Worlds with girls from Turkey and Morocco. Things for women in sport are improving in many Islamic nations.
update – IOC bans Kuwait over government interference in Olympic movement (2nd time. Could be lifted in time for Rio.)
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