The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved and announced provisional approval of the Kosovo Olympic Committee (KOC) as its newest member last week. The KOC is expected to be granted full recognition at the next IOC Session, which will be held in December in Monaco.
Kosovo, while not officially a member of FINA (the international governing body for aquatic sports), does have federations recognized by full, provisional, or associate members in 13 other sports.
While the fledgling nation’s trophy case for swimming is still rather bare, the country has played a significant role in swimming: in 2008, the legendary Mike Cavic was suspended mid-way through the European Championships for wearing a shirt that reads “Kosovo is Serbia” on the podium while he accepted his gold medal for the men’s 50 fly. Cavic was suspended by LEN for the rest of the meet for what they said “constitutes a clear political action.”
The shirt was a reference to Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in February of 2008. While most of the world, including over half of the United Nations, have recognized the Kosovo as a sovereign state, there are still 5 holdouts within the European Union – Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain – who have not. Further, Serbia recognizes “that the government in Pristina exercises administrative authority over the territory of Kosovo” and that it is “prepared to deal with Pristina as a legitimate governing authority.”
Kosovo has several times been denied membership in different international federations (for what they claim to be “political reasons”), and recognition by the IOC should give them great weight as they reapply.
While Kosovo isn’t a member of FINA or LEN (the European aquatics governing body) and hasn’t participated in any FINA Championships as far as we can tell, there is some swimming infrastructure there. According to an article in Euronews.com from before the 2012 Olympics, a local Kosovo family, when they recognized their daughter’s swimming talent, built a 25-meter pool: the first public indoor swimming pool in Kosovo’s capital of Pristina. The club team S T E P now trains out of that pool, as does their daughter: who at 18 was elected the Kosovo Swimmer of the Year for the fourth-straight year in 2013. She won 10 National Championships in total in 2012, despite the inability to compete at the Olympics.
Zeqiri has been 1:12.1 in the 100 long course meter backstroke, which would have placed her last at the 2012 Olympic Games.
Congrats Kosova!