LILLEHAMMER (Norway) (Sputnik) — The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will not consider bids to host international competitions from the countries where gender discrimination takes place, IOC President Thomas Bach said Sunday.
"First of all our policy is clear – there should be no discrimination neither on the field, nor for spectators. This was made very clear several times when there was a talk about potential Olympics candidatures in the countries where full participation of women would not be possible. We were very clear to say that such a candidature would not be acceptable from the IOC’s point of view," Bach told reporters.
"On the one hand, we have positive result, for the first time women can watch volleyball in Iran at the tournament, this is success. On the other hand, we have conflicting information that there were others who were prevented from entering the stadium," he pointed out.
Allowing women to attend games at the competition, in contradiction with local traditions, was one of the conditions the International Federation of Volleyball (FIVB) made to Iran prior to providing it with a right to host Championships at Kish Island.
