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Saudi Arabia
The IOC rejected a suggestion by a Saudi Arabian of f icial
that the ultraconservative nation could seek to co-host the
Olympics with neighbouring Bahrain by having male and
female athletes compete in separate countries.
Prince Fahad bin Jalawi Al Saud, an international relations
consultant to the President of the Saudi Arabian Olympic
Committee, told a French Olympic website that resolutions
passed by the IOC permitting joint bids open the door for a
possible joint bid with men’s events on Saudi territory and
women’s competitions in Bahrain.
But IOC President Thomas Bach quickly dismissed the idea in a
statement to The Associated Press, saying Saudi Arabia would
be ineligible to bid for the Olympics unless it complies with
rules barring discrimination against women in sports.
“A commitment to ‘non-discrimination’ will be mandatory for
all countries hoping to bid for the Olympics in the future,”
Bach said. “This was made very clear in the Olympic Agenda
2020 reforms and will even be in the host city contract.
“If this is not applied, the bid would not be admissible.
Countries like Saudi Arabia must really work to allow female
athletes to ‘ freely participate.” ’
Saudi women are largely unable to access sports, including
in public schools where physical education is not on the
curriculum for girls. The Gulf country sent two women to
the Olympics for the f irst time at the 2012 London Games.
However, the Saudis sent a male-only team to last year ’s Asian
Games in Incheon, South Korea.
Fahad said in an interview with the Francs Jeux website that
a Saudi-Bahrain joint candidacy would be allowed under the
Olympic Agenda 2020 reform package approved by the IOC in
Monaco.
The changes opened the door to holding events outside a host
city or country, as well as possible joint bids by cities, neigh-
bouring countries or regions, but only in “exceptional cases.”
Female access to exercise is shunned by hard-line religious
clerics in Saudi Arabia, who warn it could blur gender lines and
expose women to licentiousness. Women of ten struggle to
f ind facilities to train, and are not allowed to attend matches
in stadiums. A Saudi female was detained for days last year
for sneaking into a stadium in the kingdom to watch a football
match.
Saudi Arabia currently has no full IOC member.
China
China to tap into economic potential of
sport
On October 20 last year, the State Council, China’s
cabinet , issued a document entitled Guidelines on
Accelerating the Development of Sports Industry and
Promoting Spor ts Consumption, intended to boost
productivity in the country ’s spor ts sector. The
guidelines outlined plans to turn the nation’s sporting
world into an important driving force for economic
growth.
The document has accorded China’s sports industry an
unprecedented level of national importance, marking
the f irst time the Chinese Government has attempted to
tap into the economic potential of the sports industry,
analysts say.
According to the guidelines, the government expects
the sports industry to be worth an incredible 5 trillion
yuan ($813 billion) by the end of 2025.
China’s sports industry is worth about 900 billion yuan
($146.34 billion) right now, which means the plans are to
make it almost f ive times larger within a decade.
The guidelines focus on encouraging more people
to participate in athletics and on channelling more
investment into sports facilities and stadiums for public
use. Public agencies, businesses, social organisations,
and schools should all implement one hour of f itness
every day to enable employees and staf f to take part,
the guidelines state. The government will also build
“15-minute f itness areas” in communities across the
country.
Liu Peng, Minister of the General Administration of
Sport (GAS), said that with incomes rising across the
country, Chinese people are pursuing a higher quality
of life.
“The notion of investment in health is taking f irmer root
among the people and physical f itness is gaining more
attention,” Liu said, adding that China needs to further
unleash the potential of the sports market.
According to the GAS, the sports industry is expected
to account for about 1 percent of the country ’s GDP by
2025, the same level as in most developed countries,
compared with 0.6 percent in 2012.
TOUCHLINE
ISSUE 20 | MARCH 2015 |
35