IOC chief opposes Olympic boycott calls
IOC chief hit out at calls for boycott of Sochi Winter Olympics over Russia's anti-gay legislation.
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach on Wednesday hit out at calls for protests and a boycott of the Sochi Winter Olympics over Russia s anti-gay legislation.
But a UN General Assembly resolution calling for an Olympic truce during the Sochi Games included a landmark call for host countries like Russia "to promote social inclusion without discrimination of any kind."
Russia has faced a widespread Internet campaign and calls from celebrities and gay rights groups for protests at Sochi over Russia s law banning gay propaganda.
While there is no serious threat to the event, Bach said: "We oppose boycotts of any kind. Boycotts are a fundamental contradiction to the spirit of sport, depriving it of the means to continue working for peace, mutual understanding and solidarity."
In a speech to a UN debate on the traditional truce call, Bach did not mention the Russian law or the appeals to boycott Sochi which starts on February 7 and finishes February 23.
But he said "sport, and the Olympic Movement especially, understands the global diversity of cultures, societies and life designs as a source of richness. We never accuse or exclude anyone."
And in a veiled message to President Vladimir Putin s government, Bach added that "sport has to enjoy responsible autonomy. And politics must respect this sporting autonomy."
Sport cannot "operate in a law-free environment," Bach also told the assembly.
"It does mean that we respect national laws which are not targeted against sport and its organizations alone, sometimes for chiefly political reasons," Bach said.
Sochi Olympic organizing committee president Dmitry Chernyshenko also did not mention the gay controversy as he introduced the traditional Olympic truce resolution at the UN General Assembly.
But Putin has repeatedly guaranteed that there would be no discrimination against gays in Sochi and after the meeting Chernyshenko stressed the reference in the Olympic truce resolution on social inclusiveness.
"It is not just nice words. It is real action. During the Games, we guarantee that there will be no discrimination whether by religious or sexual or gender distinction," he said.
The United States and Australia also drew attention to the resolution s language.
"This is the first time that language of this kind appears in a resolution on the Olympic truce and it sends a powerful message highlighting the role that sport plays for all people," Elizabeth Cousens, a deputy US ambassador, told the UN debate.
"This phrase emphasizes the importance of inclusion and participation of all people in sporting activity regardless of identity, including persons of different sexual orientation and gender identities."
With the Olympics and other major events facing growing numbers of political controversies, Bach said that "sport must remain politically neutral."
"This does not mean that it is apolitical. Sport must include political considerations in its decisions. It must also consider the political, economic and social implications of its decisions.
"This is particularly true when choosing the venues for major sports events, above all the biggest and most important of these, the Olympic Games."
"It must always be clear in the relationship between sport and politics that the role of sport is always to build bridges, it must never build walls," Bach said.
