The United States, Russia and China are the only three national Olympic committees invited to the Olympic Summit scheduled for Friday, which will discuss the present and future of the Olympic Movement, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced today.
Chairing the Summit, organised via videoconference, will be IOC President Thomas Bach, and on the agenda will be the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, held this year, and the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris2024.
“The Olympic Summit brings together leading representatives of the Olympic Movement. It forms part of the ongoing dialogue and consultation on important issues and subjects of significance for the future of the Olympic Movement,” IOC read an statement.
In the press release, the IOC intends to provide an update on candidacies for the 2030 Winter Games, the optimisation of the Games, the fight against doping, electronic games (eSports) or qualification models.
British Columbia is among the regions laying plans to launch an official hosting bid. Sapporo, Japan and Salt Lake City, Utah are also preparing bids. All three cities previously hosted a Winter Games.
However, the IOC announced it was delaying its 2023 Session, thus postponing the decision on a host for the 2030 Olympics.
“The process of continuous dialogue allows us to start targeted dialogue when the timing is right. I don’t see it as a major disruption at all, it is a very short postponement.” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said.
In the current scenario, Russian sportsmen are excluded from the qualification processes for Paris 2024, given the federations’ alignment with the IOC’s recommendations, while the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues for the Russian Olympic Committee or the Russian IOC members, who were not excluded nor penalised, the situation is different.
