UN urges countries to honor truce during Winter Olympics, not deny visas to any nation's athletes

Former NCAA swimmer Paula Scanlan discusses the International Olympic Committee's reported move to ban transgender athletes from all female Olympic events.

Nearly four years after Russia violated the Olympic truce by invading Ukraine just days after the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, the U.N. is urging all nations to observe the truce this time around.

The plea was made at the U.N. General Assembly Wednesday, suggesting a halt to fighting during one of the world’s premier sporting events can be "a tool to promote peace, dialogue, tolerance and reconciliation" ahead of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games.

The adoption of the resolution by consensus in the 193-nation world body was greeted with applause from diplomats, the International Olympic Committee and sports representatives.

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A crew member leaps to fix a logo for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics before a launch ceremony in Beijing Sept. 17, 2021.  (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Italy’s Giovanni Malagò, president of the organizing committee for the Winter Olympics, introduced the resolution.

"At a time of growing discord and conflict, sport and the Olympic Games can provide a beacon of hope, an alternative to rivalry and division," he said.

The resolution recalled the ancient Greek tradition of Ekecheiria, or Olympic Truce, to encourage a peaceful environment and ensure safe passage and participation of athletes in the games, "thereby mobilizing the youth of the world to the cause of peace."

International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry told the assembly just before the resolution’s adoption that, in a world where "conflict and division continue to cause untold suffering," the Olympic Games "can offer a rare