LAUSANNE: The 10th Olympic Summit endorsed Saturday the International Olympic Committee’s stance of opposing 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 10th Olympic Summit, organised by the IOC to discuss various issues related to the Olympic movement, expressed support for IOC’s position in the wake of the US, UK, Canada and Australia announcing a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Beijing over China’s record on human rights 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 over China’s record on human rights issue and lack of free speech in the country, 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.
Additionally, the Summit participants participants were informed of the final preparations for Beijing 2022, with a series of successful test events. Beijing 2022 will be the start of a new era of global winter sport. With 300 million Chinese people engaging with sports on snow and ice, global participation in winter sports will be taken to new levels.
The Summit participants also 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. The Resolution was co-sponsored by 173 UN Member States.
Tokyo 2020
The Summit appreciated the overwhelming global success of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 with regard to the athletes, the worldwide audience and the Olympic values. The athletes expressed strong satisfaction that the Games had taken place despite the unprecedented challenges.
The Games reached a total global broadcast audience of more than three billion people across linear TV and digital platforms, and were watched on digital platforms with more than 28 billion video views in total on the Olympic broadcast partners’ digital platforms.
All this made the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 the most engaged Olympic Games ever, the most watched Olympic Games ever on digital platforms, and the first “streaming” Games.
Future editions
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.
GOOD GOVERNANCE
Anti-corruption
The Summit noted the success of the 4th International Forum for Sports Integrity last month. Representatives of the Olympic Movement, governments, intergovernmental agencies, betting entities and other experts are strengthening their cooperation in the fight against corruption, in order to protect the credibility and integrity of sport – in particular through the International Partnership Against Corruption in Sport (IPACS).
The Summit welcomed the new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the IOC and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The aim is to fight corruption and crime in sport, with a particular focus on preventing youth crime, violence and drug use through sport.
The Summit expressed its firm commitment to continuing to strengthen this fight against corruption in sport.
Anti-doping
The Summit welcomed the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)’s wide-ranging governance reforms that were agreed by its Foundation Board last month. These reforms will increase the representation within WADA of athletes, independent members and National Anti-Doping Organisations, while also maintaining the unique and successful 50-50 partnership between the sports movement and governments of the world. This latest round of reforms will ensure that WADA’s governance model is effective and reflects international best practice.
The Summit was informed that the anti-doping programme for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 carried out by the ITA had been fully and successfully implemented despite the challenging COVID-19 circumstances. The comprehensive pre-Games testing programme and the long-term storage of samples, introduced for the first time, were also welcomed.
The Summit welcomed the full delegation of the anti-doping system by the IOC to the International Testing Agency (ITA), for management, and to the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS), for sanctioning. This avoids any perception of a conflict of interests, and adds greatly to the credibility of the process. It is also strongly supported by the athletes.
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