The Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK) defends its selection criteria for allowing active athletes to participate in the Olympics and receives backing from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
"The national Olympic committees have exclusive right to representation from their respective countries," writes IOC Director Lenny Abbey in an email, according to SOK.
Last week, the Swedish Olympic Committee's (SOK) selection criteria for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris were a topic of discussion. Sailor Emil Bengtson has accused SOK of violating the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) rules, the so-called charter.
Now SOK is defending its criteria and receives backing from IOC.
"The task is SOK's in accordance with rule 27 in the Olympic charter, which states that the national Olympic committees have exclusive right to representation from their respective countries in Olympic Games and in regional, continental or global sports competitions under IOC's protection," writes IOC Director Lenny Abbey in an email, according to SOK's website.
Bengtson, who qualified in Sweden for the Olympics but was not selected by SOK, is taking legal action against SOK in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), according to Dagens Nyheter.
One way for me to move forward as an athlete is to understand the reasons why I was not selected, said the sailor to Göteborgs-Posten last week.
Corrected: In an earlier version of this text, the sailor's last name was incorrectly stated. The correct surname is Bengtson.
