(ATR) Elections in Kuwait may be the next step toward ending the IOC suspension of Kuwait, the only one of 206 NOCs suspended by the IOC.
The National Olympic Committee is supposed to hold new elections this year which could win approval of the IOC. In 2016 an interim KOC leadership was named, a move rejected by the IOC.
Government interference in the governance of the KOC is the reason behind the suspension, in effect since 2015, the third time the IOC has taken that measure in 10 years.
During the Rio 2016 Games, Kuwaiti athletes participated without national identity and under the IOC flag. Kuwait athletes did not compete at the Winter Games in PyeongChang.
At the 2010 Youth Olympic Games, Kuwaiti athletes competed as independent athletes under the Olympic flag. In 2012 the suspension was lifted just before the London Games.
In April envoys from the Kuwaiti government met withIOC staff in Lausanne "to find a favorable and mutually acceptable solution in the interest of the Kuwait Olympic Movement," according to an IOC statement.
The IOC had called for Kuwait to amend its law to be in tune with the Olympic Charter as well as the revocation of any government orders affecting the KOC.
The IOC also wants Kuwait to drop lawsuits against the IOC that have been filed in Switzerland. None of the lawsuits, seeking $1 billion in damages for the ban from the Olympics, have had any success.
The latest round of negotiations between the IOC and Kuwait opened April 25 in Lausanne with IOC Deputy Director Pere Miro and Humood Fleteh Alshammari, Director General Of The Public Authority For Sports.
The outcome of the upcoming talks could influence the participation of Kuwait athletes in the Asian Games, sources close to the issue tell Around the Rings.
FIFA, which had suspended the Kuwait Football Association, lifted its ban in December 2017.
Reported by Miguel Hernandez.
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