News
IOC Supporting Olympic Hopefuls in Syria
March 14, 2012 Nicola  |
With the crisis in Syria continuing, the IOC has diverted funds away from the authorities directly to the country’s athletes.
The International Olympic committee are looking to help Syrian athletes qualify and ultimately compete at the London Olympics later this year despite the current conflict within the country.
It has been estimated that up to 7500 people may have been killed in Syria during the past year after an uprising began against President Bashar Assad’s regime. Even though the violence is ongoing, the IOC has pledged to continue its support to the hopeful Olympians throughout the country with direct funding.
Currently there are several track and field athletes that are in with a chance of qualifying for the games as well as swimmers. There is also a possibility of the Syrian Olympic football team qualifying for London too.
The IOC director of National Olympic Committee, Pere Miso said: “We continue to deal with the athletes in Syria and we will try to make sure there are Syrian athletes at the London Olympic Games.”
The Syrian Olympic body is still fully recognised by the IOC and is based in Damascus, headed by General Mowaffak Joumaa. The country also has a member within the IOC, Samih Moudallal.
However, if the violence continues to escalate there is genuine concern that there may be a breakup of the government and governing bodies in charge of the country and its infrastructure. If this event does occur before the games in London then the IOC have put in procedures to bring any Syrian athletes that have qualified to London and allow them to compete under the Olympic flag.
This type of arrangement has been used in past Olympics, with athletes from both East Timor and the former Yugoslavia competing under the Olympic flag at the games due to political problems.
By Jonathan Trickey
[Image courtesy of Fchmksfkcb]
