IOC chief insists on being neutral

Lausanne, Dec. 9: IOC president Thomas Bach insisted on Wednesday that he was staying politically neutral in the face of diplomatic boycotts of the Beijing Olympics and concerns over tennis player Peng Shuai.

Addressing a virtual press conference at the end of the second day of the IOC Executive Board meeting, Bach talked about the “success” of the delayed Tokyo Games in July and August, but then faced questions centred on China, which hosts the Winter Games in February.

Bach spoke on a day when Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada followed the United States and announced diplomatic boycotts of the Beijing Games because of concerns over China’s human rights record.

He insisted the important point was “the participation of the athletes in the Olympic Games”.

“We welcome the support for their Olympic team all these governments have been emphasising this is giving the athletes certainty and this is what the IOC is about. The presence of government officials is a purely political decision by each government,” he said.

“You will hear the same comment from us for every political decision from any government. We have been concerned with the athletes. We welcome that they can participate that they are supported by their national governments. The rest is politics and our political neutrality applies,” he added.

“If we were to start to take political sides, we would never get the 205 or 206 national committees to Olympic Games. This would be the politicisation of the Olympic Games and this would be the end of the Olympic Games,” he said, adding the IOC would ensure human rights were observed at the Games.