Kosovar athletes stage Olympic Protest

With chairman of the Kosovo Olympic Association, Besim Hasani and the Olympic medalist from Los Angeles 1984, Aziz Salihu, at the front, the athletes organized the protests with the motto “sports without discrimination”.

A peaceful protest closed with a short speech by Hasani and Salihu, promising that they will knock on every door to ask for the right of Kosovar sports athletes to take part at the next summer Olympics in Beijing 2008 and all other international competitions.

“If nobody reacts we will go on and on with the protest,” said Salihu at the time of the protests. “Enough is enough our athletes have the universal principal right to compete in international level. They are simple political victims.”

Seeking international recognition
The athletes of Kosovo, territory which has been administrated by the United Nation (UN) mission after the NATO bombings in 1999, have not taken part in any international championships since the 1991 break-up of Yugoslavia.

Now, eight years after the war, just the Table Tennis Federation of Kosovo (TTFK) and the Handball Federation have been lucky enough to receive international recognition. The Table Tennis Federation became a member of the ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) in 2003 and the Handball Federation of the EHF (European Handball Federation) in December 2004, but with limited rights, such as clubs being allowed to compete in European cups but not the national team yet.

Kosovars want to take part in sports events in the same way that East Timorese athletes were allowed to take part in Sydney Olympics 2000, even though their state was not yet internationally recognized.

The protestors got their first results, when the organizers were called for the meeting with the Kosovo administrator, Mr. Joachim Ruecker.

UN to help athletes
The UN Mission in Kosovo has some power to help, and has now contacted the International Olympic Committee to examine the situation.

A working group has been established, including the UN Mission in Kosovo, the Kosovo Olympic Committee and the Ministry for Sport in Kosovo.

The working group has had now had two meetings. In addition to informing the International Olympic Committee about their work, it has also asked the United Nations headquarters in New York to support the right of Kosovars to take part in Beijing 2008.

The working group has also asked national Federations about supplying potential athletes for Beijing 2008.

In Kosovo, there are 23 sports federations, with football and basketball being the main sports, which have even attracted foreign players and coaches.