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Eligibility
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SUMMARY OF ELIGIBILITY TO REPRESENT A
COUNTRY IN THE PARALYMPIC GAMES The summary below is intended as a guide to
the rules on an individual’s eligibility to represent 1.General Rule (Rule 46) Rule 46 of Olympic Charter states the simple
rule that the competitor must be a national of the country of the NOC which
enter him/her. The IOC interpret ‘nationality’ to mean than an individual
must possess a valid passport of their country in order to be considered
eligible. To compete for 2.Dual or Multi-nationals (i.e. competitors with a passport of 2 or more countries)(Bye-law 1) Competitors who have a valid passport for
two or more countries at the same time may choose which country to represent but,
after having represented one country at the Olympic Games, in continental or
regional games or in world or regional championships recognised by the
relevant International Federation, competitors may not represent the other
country for 3 years. Rule 46 does however set out a procedure
where this period can be reduced or even cancelled by agreement between the
relevant NOC’s and the relevant International Federation with the IOC
Executive Board’s approval. 3.Change of Nationality (Bye-law 2) If a competitor has already represented one
country at the Paralympic Games, in continental or regional games or in world
or regional championships recognised by the relevant International Federation
and subsequently changes or acquires a new nationality, he/she may not
represent the new country until at least 3 years after the change of
nationality. The IOC interprets this to mean 3 years after the date the new
passport was granted. Again, as in point 2 above Rule 46 does
however set out a procedure where this period can be reduced or even
cancelled by agreement between the relevant NOC's and the relevant
International Federation with the IOC Executive Board's approval. If a competitor has never represented
his/her first country of nationality there is of course no such time
restriction after a change of nationality. 4. If a state (or colony etc) becomes
independent, or if a country is incorporated into another by change of
border, a competitor may choose to represent the new country (if there is an
NOC) OR the former country. However, this choice can only be made once. 5.Disputes (Bye-law 4) The IOC Executive Board resolves any
disputes regarding these rules and eligibility generally whether of an
individual or general nature. 6.Summary of Guidance from the IOC (i) A competitor must possess a
valid passport of the country he/she seeks to represent in order to be
considered for these purposes as a national of that country. (ii) “Represented a country” means
represented a country in the Paralympic Games, in continental or regional
games or in world or regional championships recognised by the relevant
International Federation. (iii) The 3 year limit may be
reduced or cancelled with the agreement of the relevant NOC’s the
International Federation and with the IOC Executive Board’s approval. The
IOC’s current practice on granting approvals is to require the NOC to supply
the IOC’s NOC Relations Department with copies of the NOC and International
Federation consent agreements and a copy of the relevant page(s) of the
individual’s passport. The BPA, as the NOC for February 2001 |