“Being a member of the IOC will allow us to send a team to next year’s Olympics”.
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The IOC unanimously approved the inclusion of the African republic, which became independent in 2011.
South Sudan has seven national sporting federations – athletics, basketball, soccer, handball, table tennis, taekwondo and judo.
During the competition, all athletes will have the opportunity to participate in an innovative program called “Learn and Share” which will see the students of Lausanne’s educational institutes showcase competencies and expertise from their discipline of choice. “This will promote reconciliation and national unity”, said South Sudan’s Olympic chief Wilson Kuoirot. Now an Olympics Channel would not replace its rightsholders such as NBC, CBC, BBC, Discovery and others, but the Committee hopes it would enhance them by airing or streaming Olympic sports in off years.
Marial will compete at the athletics world championships in Beijing this month before preparing for Rio. Now South Sudan will be able to compete in Rio.
“Despite the political difficulties between Sudan and South Sudan, you worked together with your neighbors and have made this recognition possible”, Bach said of the two men who were joined by two Sudanese Olympic officials for Sunday’s meeting. Thousands of civilians in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state face starvation after the government blocked aid groups from using the Nile River to deliver relief food, aid agencies said late last week.
Speaking about one honorary member Doyen Smirnov, IOC President Thomas Bach said: “All of us in the Olympic movement have been privileged to witness his strong dedication and commitment to our values”.
“We have nothing, we are starting from scratch”, said Deran, who broke down again after the ceremony as he told how the committee hoped to “empower” young athletes like Hasan.
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Things have changed and in order to protect the precious brand the IOC is going to have to embrace a vertiginous learning curve and get ready to take the Olympic Channel into the most cutting edge technology available to meet the youth demand.
