IOC plans to amend Olympic Charter

The International Olympic Committee may become politically neutral. The agency plans to amend the Olympic Charter.

One of the changes is protection from excessive state, social, and economic influence. An extraordinary session of the organization will be held in two weeks in Switzerland.

The Lausanne Council has officially recommended that all world federations allow Belarusians to wear national symbols at the World and European Championships. Some, however, are still resisting.

Andrei Bashko, Secretary General of the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation:

"We are very pleased with the initial steps. The National Olympic Committee, the Ice Hockey Federation, and our political forces undoubtedly did some work to ensure these first steps took place," noted Andrei Bashko. "We remained somewhat quiet on international issues because we had two, you could say, fundamental conflicting issues that we were resolving with the IIHF. And we resolved both of these issues in our favor. Our U-18 team and our girls will be represented at the World Championships for the first time. But the battle is not over yet."

The juniors will be the first from Russian hockey to return to the global family. The World Championship in the elite division will be held in the United States in the spring of 2027.