On the Road to Olympic Recognition

(ATR) The next step in the Faroe Islands’ quest for Olympic recognition could be the Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE).

Jon Hestoy, Vice President of the Faroese Confederation of Sports and Olympic Committee (FCSOC), tells Around the Rings "We are still trying to work with the GSSE countries and we hope that our idea of getting some sort of cooperation with them will be dealt with at the [GSSE] general assembly in Andorra" in the spring of 2020.

Hestoy says there is strong support among Faroese sports federations to join the GSSE "because the level is just perfect for us. On an athlete’s point of view, on a sporting level, ambition level the GSSE is perfect. It’s made for us."

He is unsure how soon a breakthrough might happen for the Faroes with the GSSE. But given the strides made since the self-governing region of Denmark launched its latest campaign to get into the Olympics in March of 2018, there is reason for cautious optimism.

In January, the EOC Executive Committee ruled that Faroese athletes can participate in EOC events, including the European Games, in sports where the Faroe Islands already have a recognized sport federation.

The decision came too late for the Faroes to qualify any athletes for the European Games in Minsk in June, but six Faroese athletes were able to compete at the Summer European Youth Olympic Festival in Baku, Azerbaijan in July. The five swimmers and one judoka were unable to raise the Faroese flag at the opening and closing ceremonies, however, since the EOC is still not recognizing the Faroe Islands even though it is allowing Faroese athletes to compete.

Hestoy met with Pere Miro, the IOC Deputy Director General for Relations with the Olympic Movement, at the recent European Olympic Committees General Assembly.

"He said the same thing he said in Lausanne a year ago… you can be associated to the EOC, you can be associated to the GSSE, no problem with us," Hestoy tellsATR.

The IOC’s stance of allowing Faroese athletes to compete in this way came out of a meeting in December of last year, when a FCSOC delegation, including Hestoy, held talks in Lausanne with Miró, IOC Head of Institutional Relations & Governance Jérôme Poivey, Danish NOC President Niels Nygaard and EOC secretary general Raffaele Pagnozzi.

But the IOC’s position to keep the Faroes out of the Olympics has remained unchanged.

Faroese in the Olympics

There will be at least one Faroese athlete at Tokyo 2020. Rower Sverri Nielsen, competing for Denmark, won a silver medal in single sculls at the world championships in Austria in September and has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.

It will mark the fourth straight Summer Games in which a Faroese athlete has taken part.

"We had a rower in the 2008 Olympics, Katrin Olsen, we had a swimmer in ’12 and ’16 (Pal Joensen), and in ’20 we will have another rower. So this entity of 52,000 people has put three different people into four consecutive Olympics, which must by any standards be a magnificent feat," Hestoy says.

The Faroes began the year with eight recognized federations: archery, badminton, football, handball, judo, swimming, table tennis and volleyball.

By the end of the year it could be 10. The Faroes expect to become an associate member of the International Shooting Sport Federation at the ISSF meeting next month in Munich. The World Dart Federation admitted the Faroes earlier this year.

There could be even more in 2020.

"We are having very positive discussions with a number of IFs on Associate Membership and hope for some good news on this front in the next few months," Hestoy tells ATR. "Perhaps this could also be a model to enable the IOC to bring us into the Olympic Family - through a type of IOC ‘Associate Membership’.

"Olympic Associate Membership could enable us to compete in the Olympic Games, but only where they have some form of IF recognition. This fits with the model we agreed with the European Olympic Committees for our participation in the European Games.

"It’s been 25 years since the Olympic Charter was updated on membership and we very much hope the IOC will look at this idea favorably. Hopefully it’s a win-win for the IOC and for our athletes."

Hestoy says the FCSOC intends to broach the idea to the IOC.

Support Both at Home and Abroad

Sweden in September joined the NOCs of Denmark, Iceland and Norway in supporting the FCSOC’s campaign for Olympic recognition. A few days later, the UEFA Executive Committee awarded the Faroe Islands the hosting rights to the 2021 Women’s U17 European Championship.

A new government remains just as committed to the pursuit of Olympic recognition as the previous one. Hestoy says the new prime minister plans to send an invitation to IOC President Thomas Bach "to visit the Faroe Islands and see for himself".

So while Hestoy says "being patiently impatient is a very hard task and I’m not very good at being patient", he thinks "the sentiment in the [Faroese] society and the sporting confederation is that people think we’ve done quite well so far".

Homepage photo: ATR

Written by Gerard Farek

For general comments or questions,click here.

Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.