IOC respond to Olympic host criteria change campaign

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) have responded to calls to make Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter a key criteria in the host selection process.

All Out, Athlete Ally and former Olympic champion Greg Louganis are among those campaigning for countries with discriminatory laws to be banned from hosting the Olympics.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said that the requirements for a host city could be “changed” in the future.

When asked if a rule based on Principle 6 could become a pre-condition for potential host cities, he said: “Could it be changed? It can be changed.”

He continued: “We are, as you know, in the middle of Agenda 2020 which is looking at just about everything on how Olympics are run.

“[Principle 6] is not something that is specifically looked at but if there is a groundswell of opinion it could be.”

Principle 6 of the Olympic charter states: “Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.”

Although any changes to the Olympics host selection process wouldn’t apply to Rio De Janeiro 2016, Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2020, it may influence who is awarded the Winter Olympics in 2022.

Ukraine – where four anti-gay laws are currently being proposed – is currently being considered as host for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

In This Article: