KUALA LUMPUR – South Sudan has become the Olympic movement’s 206th member amid emotional scenes as the war-stricken African nation crossed the final hurdle to competing at next year’s Rio Olympics.
Sports leaders from South Sudan, Sudan and IOC executive members could not hold back tears on Sunday as the International Olympic Committee accepted the country by acclaim at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
Tong Deran, South Sudan Olympic Committee secretary general, said he had been crying at the thought of 16-year-old runner, Margrat Rumat Hasan, who had often “trained without being able to eat breakfast” because of the 19-month-old civil war.
Hasan could be one of at least four runners – two men and two women – who will compete in Rio next August.
The IOC had to wait four years after South Sudan’s independence to admit the country because it struggled to get five sports federations to give recognition as required by the world sports body’s rules.
Now it is recognised by the athletics, basketball, football, handball, judo, table tennis and taekwondo federations.
The civil war has left thousands dead and made it impossible for athletes to train in the country.
“All the sports facilities are broken down,” said Wilson Deng Kuoirot, a top army officer who is South Sudan’s first national Olympic committee president.
