06 Dec 2021 – The presence of government officials and diplomats is a purely political decision for each government, which the IOC in its political neutrality fully respects. At the same time, this announcement also makes clear that the Olympic Games and the participation of the athletes are beyond politics, and we welcome this.

Support for the athletes and the Olympic Games has been expressed multiple times in recent months, most recently in the United Nations resolution entitled “Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal”, adopted by consensus of all 193 Member States and co-sponsored by 173 Member States at the 76^th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York just last week. 

This resolution calls for the observance of the Olympic Truce for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Beijing 2022, from seven days before the start of the Olympic Games, on 4 February 2022, until seven days after the end of the Paralympic Games.

It also “calls upon all Member States to cooperate with the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee in their efforts to use sport as a tool to promote peace, dialogue and reconciliation in areas of conflict during and beyond the period of the Olympic and Paralympic Games”.