Montenegro Could Join Olympics in Beijing

(ATR) The vote in Montenegro to form an independent state could lead to IOC recognition in time for the Beijing Olympics. By a narrow margin last weekend, voters in Montenegro chose to separate from Serbia.

Around the Ring is told that a committee from Montenegro has had contact with the IOC, but that IOC recognition of a Montenegro NOC cannot take place until the new state has been recognized by the international community.

Patrick Hickey, secretary general of the European Olympic Committees, says that once that step is taken, he sees no obstacles to Montenegro becoming the 49th member of the continental association.

For Montenegro to send athletes to the 2008 Games in Beijing, the new NOC would need to be formally recognized at the July 2007 IOC Session in Guatemala.

Hickey says Montenegro should easily handle the requirement that a minimum number of sports federations be organized in the country. He says even under the current Serbia-Montenegro alignment, there already are federations organized under the name of Montenegro, such as football.

The upcoming World Cup promises to be the final chapter in the short history of Serbia-Montenegro sport, with a team drawn from both republics. The head of the current Serbia and Montenegro Football Association says the association will cease to exist after July 28 and that soccer associations for each of the independent states would take over.