(ATR) The IOC has yet to receive any assurances from Tunisia two weeks after it threatened to punish the country over repeated discrimination of athletes.
The IOC tells Around the Rings that it may still boot Tunisia out of the four-nation 2022 Youth Olympic bidding race over the issue. An IOC evaluation team is visiting three African bidding nations this week – Botswana, Nigeria and Senegal – but Tunisia was frozen out of the itinerary.
"At this stage the IOC is still awaiting clear and concrete guarantees from the highest government authorities in Tunisia to ensure that all eligible athletes and sporting delegations could come and participate without any discrimination in future international sports events which would take place in Tunisia, in accordance with the principles and rules which govern the Olympic Movement," an IOC spokeswoman told ATR.
"In this context, the IOC’s position is unchanged, namely: the initial contacts with the Tunisian NOC for the YOG 2022 have been temporarily frozen until the IOC receive all the necessary guarantees from the highest government authorities to avoid any incident in the future."
One recent case of many highlighting Tunisian government intervention saw four Israelis banned from participating in the taekwondo world junior championships.
ATR is told that IOC officials will have a crunch meeting with the Tunisian NOC later this month in Lausanne, with the discrimination issue one of the hot topics for discussion.
Pere Miro, the IOC’s deputy director general for relations with the Olympic Movement, is expected to lead talks.
The IOC is attempting to take a tougher stance on discrimination issues over major concerns they are impacting numerous international sporting events. Earlier this month, the IOC’s ruling body discussed the rise of nationalism in global sport. The IOC board said it was bringing in a "zero tolerance" policy on countries discriminating against others.
The IOC is currently investigating Serbia’s ban on the Kosovo karate team participating in last week’s European Karate Championships in in Novi Sad. Miro told ATR that the IOC could punish Serbia.
If the IOC’s negotiations with the Tunisian NOC and government ministers fail to result in guarantees which allow all competitors to attend international competitions in the country, it will be kicked out of the 2022 Youth Olympic bid race. Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi confirmed this to ATR in Lausanne. Other sanctions may follow.
An IOC delegation of experts wraps up its visits to Botswana, Nigeria and Senegal on May 20. The technical team, including Antoine Goetschy, associate director of the Youth Olympics and Olympic advisor Gilbert Felli is assessing the countries’ 2022 Youth Olympic credentials.
The team will update the IOC executive board on the Youth Olympic bidding process at its meeting in July. The host city announcement comes at the IOC Session in Buenos Aires in October.
Reported by Mark Bisson
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