The subject was considered during an IOC executive board meeting, which also received information on concerns with Olympic officials in India, Indonesia, Iran, and Guatemala.
The IOC questioned the Afghan team’s eligibility for the 2024 Paris Olympics on Wednesday, citing rising displeasure with the Taliban’s barring of access to sport for women and girls.
Despite repeated requests for action, the International Olympic Committee stated it “continues to be extremely concerned” about the sports situation in Afghanistan.
The IOC, while noting its “right to take any further measures,” emphasised that “specific details for the participation of the Afghan (national Olympic committee) delegation and team” in the Paris Games had not yet been resolved.
The IOC might suspend Afghanistan’s Olympic Committee for interfering with the autonomous management of sport, while still allowing the country’s athletes to compete as an independent team under the Olympic flag and anthem in Paris. Kuwaitis participated in this manner in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The subject was examined Wednesday at an IOC executive board meeting, which also received information on difficulties with Olympic officials in India, Indonesia, Iran, and Guatemala.
According to IOC director for NOC relations James McLeod, a phone chat between Olympic officials and Afghanistan’s newly appointed head of physical education and sports resulted in some written commitments.
Nonetheless, the IOC stated that granting limited access to sports for females in primary schools was “a first step but reiterated that this remains insufficient.”
A number of women and girls who used to participate in a variety of sports told The Associated Press in January that the Taliban had intimidated them with visits and phone calls urging them not to participate in their games.
The Afghanistan matter will be considered again in October during an IOC board meeting in Mumbai, India, just after the Asian Games.
Afghanistan fielded five competitors to the Tokyo Olympics, which finished one week before the Taliban retook control of the nation in August 2021.
INDONESIA
McLeod acknowledged that the IOC had warned Olympic sports groups against allowing Indonesia to host their games.
FIFA stripped Indonesia of hosting the men’s football Under-20 World Cup barely seven weeks before it began in March because the country did not want Israel to compete.
Although Israel qualified for the competition nine months ago, it does not have formal diplomatic ties with Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.
McLeod stated that the IOC recommended sports groups “to be very careful in their allocation of events” to governments that limited access to athletes.
In August, Indonesia will host the World Beach Games in Bali for the worldwide umbrella organisation of national Olympic organisations known as ANOC. According to McLeod, the IOC instructed ANOC to “look at this situation very closely.”
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began 16 months ago, the IOC has faced challenges about allowing Russian members to participate in Olympic business.
Yelena Isinbayeva, a two-time Olympic pole vault champion and long-serving Russian army officer, has been permitted by the IOC ethics panel to continue using her IOC membership, which she has had since 2016.
The IOC stated in March that her membership status will be reviewed after Olympic sports groups were told that athletes who supported the conflict in Ukraine or were hired to the military should not be granted neutral status to participate abroad.
Without naming Isinbayeva, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said on Wednesday that the “past contractual situation” of Russians before to the commencement of the war on Feb. 24 last year should not be considered.
“All necessary work has been completed to the satisfaction of the ethics commission,” Adams added, without saying if Isinbayeva had surrendered her army position.
