Int'l Olympic Committee Hails 'Historic' United Nations Resolution On Sport Autonomy

The IOC hailed a United Nations resolution "recognizing the autonomy of sport as an important tool that will help foster political neutrality as well as lead to less boycotts and discrimination," according to Karolos Grohmann of REUTERS. The resolution adopted by the U.N. General Assembly states that "it supported the independence and autonomy of sport as well as the mission of the IOC in leading the Olympic Movement." IOC President Thomas Bach said, "We highly welcome this resolution as a historic milestone in the relations between sport and politics." The U.N. resolution also said that "any form of discrimination was incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement." The IOC, which "came under fire over a Russian anti-gay propaganda law" in the run-up to this year's Sochi Winter Olympics, "has also included an anti-discrimination clause in its host contract for future candidate cities" (REUTERS, 11/3).