CNMI remains a spectator in Olympics

White

Swimmers from the Federated of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau topped their respective heats in the 50m freestyle race in the Rio Olympics 2016 in Brazil last week after clocking in national records of 26.17 seconds in the men’s event and 29.16 and 29.19 in the women’s field.

The CNMI’s national marks: 24.76 seconds in the men’s by Kai Staal and 28.08 seconds in the women’s by Nina Mosley.

The Commonwealth swimmers could have been on the place of their fellow Micronesian athletes if only the CNMI is allowed to compete in the Olympics.

After more than three decades since knocking on the Olympic family’s doors, the CNMI has yet to gain membership from the International Olympic Committee while the rest of its neighbors in the Pacific—including the tiny island of Nauru—have been admitted to the group.

“This week, as the world celebrates the Olympics, the Northern Marianas has only the bitter memories of what should have been,” Northern Marianas Sports Association president Michael White posted on NMSA Facebook page.

“We applied for recognition by the International Olympic Committee in the late 1980s, along with Guam and American Samoa. We were told that our application was in order. The IOC recognized Guam and American Samoa, but despite numerous promises and assurances (from then president Juan Antonio Samaranch on down), they never got around to acting on our application,” he added.

White, in a separate message to Saipan Tribune yesterday, also clarified that IOC did not deny NMSA/CNMI’s application nor provided any explanation.

“The IOC never acted on our application, despite many promises to do so. In 1995, they changed the eligibility rule, and told us that we were no longer eligible for recognition,” White said.

IOC’s rules on admitting a nation (National Olympic Committee) based on its Charter (updated on August 2015) say “to be recognized by an NOC and accepted as such NOC, a national federation must exercise a specific, real and on-going sports activity, be affiliated to an IF (international federation) recognized by the IOC, and be governed and comply in all aspects with both the Olympic Charter and the rules of its IFs.

“In the Olympic charter, the expression ‘country’ means an independent state recognized by the international committee. The name of an NOC must reflect the territorial extent and tradition of its country and shall be subject to the approval of the IOC Executive Board,” the Charter further stated.

“The IOC changed its rules to provide that only independent countries were eligible for recognition, and told us that this meant us. So the IOC has recognized every other American territory, and I think 13 non-independent countries in all, but the Northern Marianas is still on the outside, looking in. We’ve tried to ask the IOC to right the wrong which they did to us so many years ago. First, they told us to go ask the United States Olympic Committee for help. USOC ignores us. Lately, the IOC doesn’t even answer our letters,” White said.

The NMSA head added that the CNMI does not need a clearance or certification from USOC, but the IOC told them that they should get support from USOC, so they wrote to USOC asking for help.

“They have never responded,” White said.

Despite getting a cold shoulder from both the IOC and USOC, White said NMSA/CNMI will keep on trying.

“We are going to use every means at our disposal to ask IOC to live up to its promises and do the right and honorable thing. I can’t be more specific at this time,” he said.