COVID-19 and travel disruptions limit 139th IOC Session in Beijing

BEIJING — The IOC Executive Board meets ahead of a shortened 139th Session that could delay major decisions until members reconvene later this year.

Although the membership is allowed to take part in the Session remotely, the impact of the pandemic on health and travel arrangements made it prudent to hold streamlined meetings in the Chinese capital and then finish up at an unspecified later date.

“That’s very unusual,” IOC member Richard Pound of Canada tells Around the Rings. “We cut it down from two days to one (before the Beijing 2022 Games), so there’s only so much you can do with the one day that’s left.”

Pound will be watching from his home, finding it too expensive and inefficient to come for only one day of meetings.

On Tuesday, the EB met with the IOC Athletes’ Commission and the International Olympic Winter Sports Federations at the Intercontinental Beijing Beichen Hotel. It will hold its regular meeting to prepare for the upcoming Session on Wednesday.

Emma Terho, the head of the IOC Athletes Commission, recently tested positive for COVID-19 and has been in isolation.

The abbreviated Session will take place only on Thursday at the China National Convention Centre, with members gathering again on Feb. 19 for more business. They will pick up where they left off when more members — presumably — can attend to debate the issues in person.

“To have these games is a tremendous achievement,” a veteran IOC member tells Around the Rings. “But for the IOC, to have the meeting in another month is not crucial like for the athletes to compete. So all these issues really can wait.”

The published agenda for the Session includes discussion of the Olympic program for 2028, the final report by the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee and the Woman and Sport Awards.

On Feb. 19, the day before the Beijing Games conclude, IOC member elections will be held. The elections include those for a new IOC Vice President, two executive board members, three new members who were proposed for membership and two members nominated by their peers for the Athletes’ Commission.

Nicole Hoevertsz of Aruba, an IOC Vice President, will be proposed for re-election as an independent member. Her membership previously was linked to her function as Secretary General of the NOC of Aruba.

The three proposed new members are Danka Bartekova of Slovakia, an Olympic bronze medalist in skeet shooting; Yiech Pur Biel, who competed on the first Olympic refugee team in athletics, and David Lappartient, president of the international cycling federation.

The host of the 2023 IOC session will also be selected.

“I would describe the first day as essentially routine business of the IOC,” said Pound, the longest-serving current IOC member. “There’s a whole bunch of stuff we have to get done, either to comply with Swiss law or wrapping up the Tokyo Games report. It’s not the creative part of the Session so much as dealing with stuff that needs to be cleaned up or approved from a corporate perspective.”

Pound said the “ordinary business” of the IOC membership will take place in May or June — a date has not been set — once everyone is back home.

“Ordinary business,” he added, “includes assessing what’s coming up in the future such as environmental and diversity issues.”

At the EB’s meeting in December, the list of sports to be included in the initial program for Los Angeles 2028 was put forward to the Session, along with the process that will be adopted for the review and finalization of the Olympic disciplines.

“I think that’s more likely to be postponed,” Pound said.

The list of 28 proposed sports includes skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing, youth-focused sports which made their debuts in Tokyo.

The embattled sports of boxing, weightlifting and modern pentathlon were given a pathway by which they could potentially be included. That decision will come at the IOC Session in 2023, where LA28 also has the option to propose additional sports.

The finalization of the events and athlete quota will occur in December 2024.

“Modern pentathlon is becoming a big joke,” said the veteran IOC member. “They are not shooting, they have laser. They will not be riding. We don’t know what they want. Weightlifting and boxing are two sports that need to be governed. These organizations are a mess.”

Of course, the positive COVID-19 cases infiltrating Beijing are foremost in people’s minds with the Opening Ceremony on Friday night.

“Yeah, but show me where in the world there is no positive test,” said the veteran IOC member. “At the end of the day, the success of the Games is guaranteed because the athletes are coming to win. So their performance will be fantastic. All you need to do is to house them properly, transport them on time and to feed them OK. All the rest may be done by them.”

IOC President Thomas Bach will hold a press conference on Thursday after the session.

This could very probably be the last session for Pound, who turns 80 in March, the mandatory retirement age. As the IOC “doyenne,” the senior active member, he gives a speech at the conclusion of each session.

“The last speech is a summary of what went on and other reflections as to what the future holds for the IOC,” Pound said. “Unless they have a special session later in the year, and I don’t think that’s the plan, my expectation is on Dec. 31st of this year, I’m done as an active member.”

He will be proposed as an honorary member beginning in 2023.