IOC grants provisional recognition to Kosovo

MONTREUX - The Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) granted provisional recognition to Kosovo late on Wednesday, clearing the way for the unilaterally declared republic to take part in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 as an independent state.

The IOC EB proposed that the Kosovo Olympic Committee be granted full recognition at the next IOC Session to be held in December in Monaco, The IOC said in a release.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said Wednesday that the status of Kosovo would be discussed Friday during an IOC EB meeting in Montreux, Switzerland.

The Olympic Committee of Serbia (OKS) said in a release on Tuesday that "the OKS has been informed by the International Olympic Committee about an official initiative by the unilaterally recognized Republic of Kosovo for full IOC membership."

The organization said that "for four years now, the Serbian Olympic Committee has successfully blocked attempts by the unilaterally declared Republic of Kosovo to gain IOC membership through various channels, while the Serbian authorities have also been timely informed of these attempts."

The OKS said they had information that "the IOC is now prepared to support the initiative although we have stated several times, in cooperation with the Serbian government institutions, that such activities are unacceptable" and went on to add that "such course of action would amount to a precedent which has not occurred in recent history, given that no national Olympic Committee has been admitted into the IOC without the country previously being granted United Nations membership."

International troops were deployed and a UN interim administration mission was set up in Kosovo following the 1999...