The Serbian Olympic Committee "lodged a complaint" after the IOC paved the way for Kosovo to send its own team to the 2016 Games, according to Danielle Rossingh of BLOOMBERG. The IOC said that Kosovo "has 30 national sports federations and has been recognized as a country by 108 of the 193 United Nations member states." According to the Olympic Charter, "a country needs at least five sports governing bodies and recognition as a nation state by the international community to gain accreditation." The Serbian Olympic Committee said it "strongly condemns the decision of the International Olympic Committee’s executive board to conditionally accept the national Olympic committee of the Republic of Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence." Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in '08 "was recognized by a majority of European Union nations but rejected by Serbia and Russia, among others." IOC President Thomas Bach said, “We have just applied the Olympic Charter. There will be different degrees of happiness in different parts of the world”(BLOOMBERG, 10/23).
