Kuwait NOC Restored to Olympic Family

(ATR) After years of conflict with the IOC, the National Olympic Committee of Kuwait is now fully compliant with the Olympic Charter, its suspension lifted by the IOC Executive Board.

The IOC ruling July 5 comes after the successful completion by the KOC of a roadmap to reinstatement that included election of new leadership just days ago.

The Kuwait NOC was suspended in 2010 by the IOC in response to attempts by the government to interfere in the operation of the KOC as well as national governing bodies for Olympic sports.

The suspension was lifted in time for Kuwaiti athletes to compete in London 2012 under their national flag. But government meddling persisted and once more Kuwait was in the sin bin. At the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Kuwait athletes could only compete under the IOC flag.

The roadmap to reinstatement started with the revision and adoption of new statutes for the sports clubs along with elections. This step was completed in January 2019.

In the second step, new statutes and elections were held by the National Sports Federations, completed in early June.

The final step involved changing the statutes of the NOC and the elections for new leadership on June 30.

Sheikh Fahad Nasser Sabah Ahmad Al Sabah was elected president. The businessmanis a former helicopter pilot for the Kuwait armed forces. He heads the sport of motocross in Kuwait.

"I as President, and my Board of Directors, have made it clear that we have a new vision for our future and we are committed to acting in the best interests of Kuwaiti sport and our athletes.

"With this reinstatement we look forward to building on our productive relationship with the IOC and making a valuable contribution to the Olympic Movement," says Al Sabah.

Mohammed Jaffar was elected vice president. He is a businessman.

Secretary general is Husain Al-Musallam, already well known in the Olympic sport world. Since 2005 he has been Director General of the Olympic Council of Asia and is a vice president of aquatics federation FINA.

IOC deputy director general Pere Miro tells Around the Rings that the elections this week took place without problems. That led to the IOC EB vote ending the suspension.

For its part, the KOC says that it will now look to the future, developing a strategy for high-performance sport and sports participation.

The KOC says the average age of the new board members is 32, claimed to be one of the youngest among the world’s NOCs.

With the lifting of the IOC suspension, all 206 of the IOC-recognized NOCs are in good standing with Lausanne.

Reported by Ed Hula.