The committee, which gathered for its 127th session in Monaco, unanimously voted in favor of the decision. According to the IOC’s statement, the national Olympic Committee of Kosovo “met the requirements for recognition as outlined in the Olympic Charter.” However, the President of the Serbian Olympic Committee did not take part in the vote.
Commenting on the situation, United World Wrestling President Nenad Lalovic said that “If Serbia had opposed the decision, it would have been a utopia and would not help the Serbian sport… Now it only remains for Serbia to cooperate with the Olympic Committee of Kosovo, because sport is not politics,” B92 quotes.
Tuesday's decision formally ratified the provisional recognition granted to Kosovo in October.
The decision made by the IOC will allow athletes from Kosovo to participate in the Olympic Games.
Kosovo's National Olympic Committee has more than 30 affiliated national federations, including 13 Olympic sports federations.
Kosovo, a landlocked region with a population of almost 2 million consisting mainly of ethnic Albanians, declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008. Since then, over 100 UN member states have recognized Kosovo as a sovereign state.
The IOC’s move creates an opportunity for South Ossetia’s Olympic membership, as the republic pledged to use Kosovo’s precedent and lodge a similar application. South Ossetia was recognized as an independent state by Russia in 2008 after Georgia had attacked the autonomous region. Four UN members have so far recognized the republic, and its political status is often compared to that of Kosovo.
