Editorial»
NOC quagmire
JAN 16 - The decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to hastily come to the rescue of the Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) is as clumsy as the decision of the government to re-recognise NOC. NOC has always been the hotbed of power politics with the country’s top political personalities vying to be in it. One really does not need to be inspired by the Olympic ideals or indeed one does not even have to be aware of these ideals to be a member of NOC or to be its president. NOC has had persons as presidents like Govinda Raj Joshi.
But whatever be the merit of the process by which a person becomes a member or office holder of NOC, contributions to the Nepalese sports is not one of them. The lofty ideals, which the modern Olympic movement since the time of Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1896 have, by the present day, been
lost on the wayside, and the Olympic Games have now become symbols of nation’s greatness. IOC, which oversees the global games, has been ridden by scandals, including those relating to bribes by cities wanting to host the Games. In February 1999, three IOC members resigned and six others were officially expelled for corruption.
It is now the same IOC that is warning the government that Nepal may be barred from future Olympic Games if its “suspension” is lifted. IOC, it is to be hoped, has taken a stock of the Nepalese situation, the make up of NOC and the manner of its make-up before warning the government. The government too has been aware of the pitfalls of meddling in organisations that have international affiliations, irrespective of whether or not such meddling is justified. Indeed now that the matter has been brought to a head, the government, the Sports Council and other internationally affiliated sports bodies would do well to put their heads together and plan organisations that can work in tandem for the betterment of the Nepalese sports with no single body, including the Sports Council or NOC, enjoying absolute power.
This may be difficult to achieve but since the stated aims and objectives of all sports bodies in Nepal is to better Nepalese sports and sports persons, there should not be any debate over it because the objective is the same. However, if the objective of sports bodies is merely to make foreign junkets for their members, the competent authority needs to step in to ensure that the Nepalese sports does not suffer and that no Nepalese sports body gets a bad name. The NOC mess this time around must be amicably settled so that the Nepalese sports persons do not suffer for no fault of their own. The sooner the NOC quagmire is ended the better it is for the country.Posted on: 2004-01-17 04:04
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