Brussels, 16 July 2012] Executive Director of the Macedonian Women’s Lobby Daniela Dimitrievska met today with the President of the Macedonian Olympic Committee, Mr. Vasil Tupurkovski, in order to present the seven recommendations of the campaign initiated by the EWL Coordination in France ‘[London 2012 Olympics: Justice for Women’.
All seven recommendations are based on the principles established by the Olympic Charter including the rejection of sex-based or gender-based discrimination; the promotion of equality between women and men; and neutrality in sport whereby the wearing of any political or religious symbols by the athletes is forbidden.
The Board of the Macedonian Olympic Committee has 18 members and six of them are women (33%). One of the Vice-Presidents is a woman and the Macedonain Chief of Mission is also.
There will be four Macedonian athletes who will participate in the Olympic Games in London, two women and two men. So the small Macedonian delegation will be balanced in terms of gender.
Mr. Tupurkovski is of the opinion that the Olympic Committee has done a lot to promote women athletes and involve them in different ways, but improvement is still necessary in terms of participation of women in decision-making. He personally believes that there is no reason why the President of the International Olympic Committee should not personally deliver the medal to the winner of the Women’s Marathon. He said that there should be more persistent and intensive pressure on countries that do not present women athletes. The Olympic Charter should not allow any discrimination on the basis of sex. He expressed his disapproval of separate games for women and men. According to him, the Para-Olympic Games cannot be at the same time as the Olympic Games due to logistical difficulties. There are over 1200 athletes during the Olympic Games, and more than 6000 during the Para-Olympics, which is therefore too difficult to manage, said Mr. Tupurkovski.
Mr. Tupurkovski welcomed the idea of the EWL to follow the activities on the topic of women and sport, and suggested that the Macedonian Women’s Lobby and the Macedonian Olympic Committee could organise common activities to promote women and sport at all levels.
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