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December 10, 2014

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Home » Sports » Olympics

Kosovo gets nod from IOC

ATHLETES from Kosovo will be able to compete at the 2016 Summer Games after being granted full recognition yesterday by the International Olympic Committee.

The full IOC formally ratified a decision made in October by the executive board that clears the way for Kosovo to compete as an independent nation.

Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, becomes the 205th national Olympic committee recognized by the IOC. “This is one big day, one historical day for athletes of Kosovo,” Besim Hasani, head of the Kosovo Olympic Committee, told the assembly in Monaco.

Serbia has refused to accept Kosovo’s independence and Olympic recognition had been opposed by Serbian officials.

Kosovo plans to send a team to the inaugural European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, next year, and up to 10 athletes are expected to compete at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Kosovo’s best known athlete, Majlinda Kelmendi, is a reigning judo world champion. She had hoped to represent Kosovo at the 2012 London Olympics, but competed for Albania instead. She has Kosovo and Albanian citizenship.




 

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