At a meeting at the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne on Friday 15th February, South Korea and North Korea discussed their joint plans for the Olympics.
The two Koreas , who have begun a spectacular sports match at the Pyoengchang-2018 Olympic Games , want to go further with the envisaged participation of unified teams in four sports at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 – and especially a joint candidacy formally presented on Friday. IOC for the Olympic Games-2032 .
Thomas Bach , the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) , who received the North and South Korean sports ministers for a tripartite meeting on Friday, welcomed “the historic initiative of the two Koreas to present a candidacy common for the Olympic Games-2032 “.
Joint application for the JO-2032
Although the bid campaign will not be officially opened until 2025 and raises many questions, this initiative marks a further step towards the warming between two nations still technically at war, since the armistice ended the war of war. Korea in 1953.
“South Korea is hoping to host the Olympic Games 2032 jointly with North Korea,” South Korean Sports Minister Do Jong-hwan told reporters after two inter-Korean sporting summits had already taken place. required.
“The leaders of the two Koreas have agreed that they want to jointly host the Games in 2032,” said his northern counterpart, Kim Il Guk, in an IOC statement.
Seoul selected
By Monday, South Korea had selected Seoul as a candidate city for the organisation of the summer Olympics-2032, which it hopes to host jointly with the North
Prior to the Pyeongchang Games, South Korea had already organized the summer Olympics in 1988, boycotted by the North.
This new stage comes at a time when, on the diplomatic level, efforts are also continuing. A second historic summit between US President and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be held in late February in Hanoi.
On the sporting side, in the immediate future, it is towards Tokyo-2020 that the two Koreas are making their efforts.
At the request of the North and South Korean National Olympic Committees, the IOC “will continue to study” with the relevant international federations the participation in the qualifying stages of unified women’s basketball and field hockey teams. another in the combined judo and unified crew competition in four rowing categories, both men’s and women’s: four coxless, four pairs and eight.
“The participation of these unified Korean teams in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 must go through a qualification,” insisted the IOC.
Friday’s meeting in the Olympic capital had the objective of studying the possibility of hiring unified teams both during the qualifying stages and during the Tokyo Olympics.
The fight against doping evoked
The parties will “continue” the discussions and “any results will require the approval of the IOC Executive Board” which meets in Lausanne from March 26 to 28, said the body.
After years of intense tension, the two Korea’s marched under a single flag at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games and a unified Korean team participated in the women’s ice hockey tournament.
Since the Olympics in Pyeongchang, several unified teams have walked in the footsteps of hockey players, in judo, basketball or handball.
Other sports, such as field hockey, have announced their desire to introduce unified Korean teams, both in the qualifying stages and during the Olympic tournament.
On Friday, the issue of anti-doping in North Korea was also raised. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced on Thursday that the North Korean National Anti-Doping Agency was no longer in compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code, which compromises its bid for 2032. To remedy this, Bach announced that “North Korea had reached an agreement with the National Anti-Doping Agency of China”.
