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Pressure mounts on the Olympic body to exclude Gulf state over refusal to adhere to Olympic Charter.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is facing calls to ban Saudi Arabia from London 2012 after the country's Olympic chief ruled out sending women athletes to the Games. Saudi Olympic Committee president Prince Nawaf bin Faisal said he was "not endorsing" female participation in London as part of the country's official delegation.
Sue Tibballs, chief executive of the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation, said the stance was unacceptable. "Saudi Arabia's current refusal to send sportswomen to the Olympics puts them directly at odds with one of the IOC's fundamental principles as laid out within the Olympic Charter," she said.
"It reads that 'any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, sex or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement'.
"If today's reports are to be believed, we would expect the IOC to defend the Olympic Charter and exclude Saudi Arabia from IOC membership and the London 2012 Olympic Games."
Nawaf told a news conference that the Saudi Olympic Committee would not endorse female participation at the London Games. However, he added that if women entered as individuals on their own, Saudi officials would ensure that their involvement did not violate Islamic sharia law.
Nawaf's comments appear to open the way for the IOC to endorse some female Saudi participation under the neutral Olympic flag, but if that occurred it would raise serious doubts about the efficacy of the Saudi Olympic Committee.
The IOC wants the London Olympics to be the first Games at which all 204 countries include women in their official delegations. The IOC has been in lengthy discussions with those countries who have never before sent women to the Games.
Jacques Rogge wants full gender representation as a final legacy of his 12-year presidency of the IOC, a term which expires next year.
Last night (Thursday) an IOC spokesperson said Olympic officials were still hoping to achieve full female participation despite the news reports emanating from Saudi Arabia.
"We are still talking and working to ensure the participation of Saudi women at the Olympic Games in London," the spokesperson said.
This year Qatar has agreed to send a female athlete and a swimmer, and Brunei has indicated that 400-metre runner Maziah Mahusin could be selected for their team. If those countries sent female athletes, Saudi Arabia would be the sole male-only delegation.
Nawaf's comments appear to be a serious about-turn by conservative royal rulers, who had earlier talked about allowing a token female contingent to compete at the London Olympics.
Last month the Saudi crown prince, Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, said women would be allowed compete as long as the sports met the standards of "women's decency" and did not contradict Islamic laws.
But Nawaf said in Jeddah yesterday: "We are not endorsing any Saudi female participation at the moment in the Olympics or other international championships.
"There are hundreds, if not thousands, of [Saudi] women who practise sports, but in private."
Equestrianism competitor Dalma Malhas, 18, represented Saudi Arabia at the Youth Olympics in Singapore last year after a personal invitation from the IOC. She went on to win a bronze medal.
Human Rights Watch has been scathing of Saudi Arabia's refusal to allow women to play sports widely, saying the country provided no physical education for girls in state schools while it had also shut down women's gymnasiums.
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