OLYMPICS-IOC/SOUTH SUDAN South Sudan joins the Olympic movement

Record ID: 145325

  • Title: OLYMPICS-IOC/SOUTH SUDAN South Sudan joins the Olympic movement
  • Date: 2nd August 2015
  • Summary: KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (AUGUST 2, 2015) (REUTERS) ARRIVAL OF INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE OFFICIALS AND REPRESENTATIVES FROM SOUTH SUDAN NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE TO NEWS CONFERENCE PRESIDENT OF SOUTH SUDAN NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE, WILSON DENG KUOIROT, AND SECRETARY GENERAL TONG CHOR MALEK DERAN SITTING DOWN REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE)(English) PRESIDENT OF SOUTH SUDAN NA
  • Embargoed: 17th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Malaysia
  • Country: Malaysia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA15WTOAQWB54SL08HIXSEG48WP
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: South Sudan became the 206th member of the Olympic family on Friday (August 2) after the International Olympic Committee approved its inclusion, despite continued fighting in the African country.
    The unanimous recognition of the country's Olympic Committee will enable the young nation to send athletes to compete under its own flag at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
    After the induction, Wilson Deng Kuoirot, President of South Sudan National Olympic Committee, and secretary-general Tong Chor Malek Deran joined a news conference to speak about the move.
    "It's a pride to my country, to be accepted in this wonderful organization," said Kuoirot. "The other one is that being a member of the International Olympic Committee will allow us to send a team to the next Olympics, which is going to be in Rio de Janeiro in 2016."
    He said the recognition would help the people in the war-torn country, especially the young generation.
    "We are going to attract those young children who are in the armed struggle, say that we will come and arm them with sports instead of being armed with guns," he said.
    In 2012 South Sudan's marathon runner Guor Marial competed at the London Olympics Games but did so under the Olympic flag. He had refused to run for Sudan and South Sudan was not yet an IOC member.
    Now South Sudan will send a team to the 2016 Olympics and to the athletics World Championships in Beijing.
    Via an internet chat Marial welcomed the inclusion of South Sudan.
    "I was crying when the announcement came," he said. "But it is a great feeling and a relief. And now I know what I'm working for. I know now I'm going to the Olympics and my athletes, the South Sudanese athletes, they know they're going to the world championships for South Sudan. So it's a great motivation and it boosts our energy to focus on training."
    Conditions in South Sudan are particularly difficult for athletes, as well as the general population. Thousands have been killed and more than 2.2 million displaced since fighting broke out in December 2013 between President Salva Kiir's government and rebels commanded by Riek Machar.
    Both sides have been accused of human rights abuses and indiscriminate killings, which have often been carried out along ethnic lines, with Machar's Nuers pitted against Kiir's powerful Dinkas.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Video restrictions: parts of this video may require additional clearances. Please see ‘Business Notes’ for more information.
Register