Olympic Charter - in The Media

In The Media

The Olympic Charter is not simply a matter of unenforced policy for the Olympic Games. Throughout history, it has served as guidance for the proceedings of the Games. Below are a few of the most recent examples:

• 2012: The Lebanese judo team at the 2012 London Olympics refused to practice next to the Israeli one, and a makeshift barrier was erected to split their gym into two halves.The two teams were scheduled to use the same gym and mats at London’s new ExCeL center for their final preparations. However, the delegation from Lebanon would not train in view of the Israeli team, and insisted some sort of barrier be placed between them. Organizers accepted the Lebanese coach’s demand to separate the teams, erecting a barrier so that the Lebanese team wouldn’t see the Israeli one.

• 2011 / 2012: Human Rights Watch accused Saudi Arabia of contravening the Olympic Charter by systematically preventing women from practicing sports in the country, and by not allowing Saudi women athletes to take part in the Olympic Games, thus violating the fourth, sixth and seventh fundamental principles of the Charter, which every member of the Olympic Movement is bound to. This came as Anita DeFrantz, chair of the I.O.C.'s Women and Sports Commission, suggested that the country be barred from participating in the Olympics until it agrees to send women athletes to the Games. I.O.C. spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau, however, indicated that the Committee "would not mandate that the Saudis have female representation in London", arguing that "the I.O.C. does not give ultimatums nor deadlines but rather believes that a lot can be achieved through dialogue".

• August 2007: Edward McMillan-Scott, Vice President of the European Parliament, called for a debate on whether athletes should boycott the Beijing Olympics in response to human rights abuses. The continuing evidence of persecution and human rights abuses in China cannot be reconciled with the Olympic Spirit set out in Article 1 of the Olympic Charter which seeks "respect for universal fundamental ethical principles."

• 2 November 2005: Active lobbying against Lord Moynihan in the election of the British Olympic Association (BOA) chairman. The Olympic Charter calls for no government interference in Olympic Association elections. Therefore, the issue is being investigated and if the Sports Minister did mislead Parliament, a resignation will most likely ensue.

• May 2004: Bernard Lagat became a US citizen 3 months before he ran track in Athens and won the silver medal in 2004. The glitch is that he won the medal for Kenya, which does not allow dual citizenship, and the Olympic Charter requires each athlete to be a citizen of the country he or she competes for. Lagat was permitted to retain his medal, but had to wait until 2007 before being eligible to compete in any other international athletics events.

• December 2004: It was discovered that Marion Jones, 5-time medalist of Track & Field at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, may have been on several banned steroids and hormones when she competed. Because the Olympic Charter states that no decision taken at the Olympic Games can be challenged after a period of 3 years after the closing ceremony, Jones could not lose these medals involuntarily except for doping violations. Jones was later stripped of every Olympic medal dating back to September 2000 after admitting that she took performance-enhancing drugs.