Amid Fog of Wars IOC Meets in India
As mayhem and slaughter rage in Israel and Gaza and the war against Ukraine by Russia grinds on, the IOC meets over the next five days in Mumbai, India.
With Paris 2024 on the horizon, the IOC finds itself caught in a swirl of consequences from tensions that threaten world peace as well as the Olympics.
The Executive Board meets October 12 and 13 to set the agenda for a meeting of all 99 current members of the IOC. The two-day Session is the first to be held in person since February 2022, when about two-thirds of the members attended the meeting held on the eve of the Beijing Winter Olympics. That makes this Session the first to be held outside the confines of three years of pandemic controls.
So far there is no head count for Mumbai, which will still have the option for members to attend the meeting virtually.
The Oct. 15th and 16th meeting is the second time the IOC has conducted a Session in India. In 1983 the-then 76-member IOC gathered in New Delhi under President Juan Antonio Samaranch. At the time the IOC was battling what would become an unavoidable boycott by the Soviet Union of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. It was payback for the U.S.- led boycott of the Moscow Games four years earlier. And on the human rights front, the IOC began its efforts in earnest to end apartheid in South Africa, which brought the nation back into the Olympic Movement nine years later.
Those challenges seem minuscule in some ways to the international pressures facing the IOC in 2023.
With two members of the IOC from Russia expected for this Session as well as the attendance of two IOC members from Ukraine, the issue of Russian athletes competing in the Olympics is an issue Pres. Thomas Bach will cover in his opening remarks to the Session on October 16.
The IOC has issued a lengthy explanation of the requirements that must be considered before athletes from Russia or Belarus can be accepted as competitors in Paris. Those athletes so chosen would compete as neutral athletes with no recognition of their national status. Bach has enjoyed strong backing for that policy, but the most strident opposition is coming from Ukraine, which sees no place for Russians in Paris, neutral status regardless.
Debate at the IOC session could become emotional if members have the chance to comment on the final draft of the IOC policy for athlete eligibility in 2024. There is also talk of Russia organizing games in 2024 with other BRIC nations that could roil the atmosphere ahead of Paris.
The crisis erupting between Israel and Palestine in the Gaza is certain to provoke some comment from Bach in opening remarks to the Session. He is likely to observe the cataclysmic effect this new outbreak of war is having on the lives of ordinary citizens as much as what it means for sport in the region.
Bach is expected to underline changes to the IOC and Olympic Games wrought by following his Olympic Agenda 2020+5 task list. That certainly will include tribute to Paris, the first Olympics held fully under the guidance of Agenda 2020 reforms. It would not be surprising for the meticulous IOC leader to spend an hour updating the members with his report.
IOC President Thomas Bach and the IOC Member in India, Nita Ambani with Eknath Shinde, Chief Minister of Maharashtra State.
The program for the 2028 Olympics being settled in Mumbai could bring five more sports to Los Angeles, possibly also taking one or two away at the same time. Cricket, baseball/softball, lacrosse, squash and flag football are the choice of LA28 needing IOC approval.
LA 28 chiefs Casey Wasserman and Kathy Carter are in Mumbai to present plan for the Games that includes sports last seen in the Olympics nearly a century ago. Joining them in Mumbai will be US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti. He came to India after serving as Los Angeles mayor during the city’s bid for the Olympics.
The addition of cricket to the Olympic program — if only for one time — will be huge news in India, where it is the country’s number-one sport. Coincidentally the World Cup of cricket is underway in India, with the finals set for next month. IOC member Nita Ambani and her husband are closely involved with the sport. With Brisbane host of the 2032 Olympics, the chances grow for cricket to make an encore in Australia, another cricket-mad country.
Ambani and her husband are regarded among the wealthiest in India. A developer in her own right, the IOC Session takes place in the glittering Jio World Convention Centre built by one of Ambani’s companies. The complex in the Mumbai CBD is the largest meeting and performing arts venue in India.
While it was LA28’s choice to add five sports to the program, it will be up to the EB and the Session to ratify any recommendation to cut an existing sport from the program. The two possible candidates for relegation are weightlifting and modern pentathlon. Weightlifting has been subject to chronic use of prohibited substances and other violations of the international doping code as well as corruption and disorganization in the international federation.
Modern pentathlon, which has made some key changes to the way the sport is contested, believes it has made competitions far less complicated than the original five disciplines that included pistol shooting and equestrian. A laser pistol has replaced gunpowder and bullets and an obstacle course will take the place of the riding event. Running, fencing and swimming are the other three events. The sport dates from the 1920 Olympics; it was created by modern Olympics founder Pierre de Coubertin to incorporate the skills needed for soldiers of that era.
Eight new IOC members are expected to be confirmed at the Session, including one from Israel.
Yael Arad, a judo medalist at the 1996 Olympics, is president of the Israel Olympic Committee. It is not known whether she will be able to travel to Mumbai for the IOC vote and oath-taking, given the interruption of air travel from Israel. The previous IOC member in Israel, Alex Gilady, died in 2022.
Other IOC member nominees include actor Michelle Yeoh from Malaysia. If confirmed she will become the first IOC member to have received an Oscar. Yeoh is married to Jean Todt, former racecar driver now president of the AIA, the international automobile federation.
Other nominees come from the world of sport and sports business. International Table Tennis Federation president Petra Sörling of Sweden and International Skating Union president Kim Jae Youl of South Korea are on the list by virtue of their federation status. Hungarian sports official Balázs Fürjes, Peruvian politician and volleyball silver medalist Cecilia Roxana Tait Villacorta, German sports marketing impresario Michael Mronz and Tunisian Olympic Committee president Mehrez Boussayene are the other nominees.
The Session in Mumbai will be the first with a doyenne for the IOC, Princess Nora of Liechtenstein. Elected to the IOC in 1984, she will be the most senior IOC member until her retirement at age 80 in 2030. The post calls for her to make short remarks about the IOC Session as the last item of business.
Elections for two members of the Executive Board among the business on the final day. One those seats is for a vice president, currently held by Ser Miang Ng of Singapore. The first term on the EB is over for Prince Feisal of Jordan, but he can run for a second.
Retiring from the IOC this year will be Sergey Bubka of Ukraine and Luis Alberto Moreno of Colombia, both covered by the age 70 rule. But Luis Mejia Oviedo from Dominican Republic, also hitting 70 this year, is recommended to receive an extension of his term for another four years due to the significant role he plays in the Olympic movement in the Caribbean.
Also proposed for a four-year term extension starting in 2025 is Gerardo Werthein of Argentina. The IOC deems the veterinarian turned high-tech kingpin “necessary” to handle oversight of Olympic Broadcast Services and chair the IOC’s commission on digital technology.
Seven members will be subject to pro-forma retention votes to serve another eight-year term: Prince Albert II of Monaco, Valeriy Borzov from Ukraine, Gunilla Lindberg of Sweden, Pakistani Syed Shahid Ali, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco and Nenad Lalović of Serbia.
The IOC EB opens work Oct. 12 and wraps up with a press briefing from the IOC President on Oct. 13. The Session opens with a ceremony the night of Oct. 14. The event expected to draw the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is keen for India to be considered for a future Olympic Games. He knows that a smooth and successful IOC Session will help the cause.