MUMBAI: Countries that exclude athletes from competing for political reasons risk harming their plans to host an Olympic Games, the IOC said Sunday.
The “growing politicization of sport” was flagged as a problem by International Olympic Committee member Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, the former president of Croatia, in an update to global sports leaders about countries who want to host the games in future.
Though she did not identify problematic countries, Poland and Indonesia have expressed interest in hosting the 2036 Olympics.
It is the next Summer Games available to be awarded. Poland refused to let Russian athletes compete in the European Games this year and Indonesia was stripped by soccer governing body FIFA of hosting the men’s Under-20 World Cup in May because the Muslim-majority nation did not want to stage Israel games. “We have witnessed more and more government restrictions being placed on athletes’ access to international sporting competitions,” Grabar-Kitarovic said in Mumbai at the IOC’s annual meeting.