A Tripartite Commission is the name given to one of a number of commissions within the Olympic movement, consisting of representatives of (1) the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

("IOC"), (2) one or more

international sports federations A sports governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sports governing bodies come in various forms and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule i ...

("IFs"), and (3) one or more

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

s ("NOCs"). Currently, Tripartite Commissions are primarily used to select athletes to be invited to compete at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

through special invitational quota places intended to improve universality.

History

The initial Tripartite Commission was created in 1971. Its initial purpose was to work on preparations for the X

Olympic Congress An Olympic Congress is a large gathering of representatives from the different constituencies of the Olympic Movement, organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). As detailed in chapter 1, rule 4 of the Olympic Charter, the IOC Pres ...

in Varna in 1973. One of the subjects of the X Olympic Congress was "Relations between the IOC, International Federations and National Olympic Committees". The purpose of the Commission then expanded to include general issues of interest to the NOCs, the IFs, and the IOC. This was a response to complaints from the NOCS and the IFs that they had little say in the Olympic Movement and no official process to voice their opinions. The Commission also organized the XI Olympic Congress in Baden-Baden in 1981. The chair of the Tripartite Commission was the IOC president, initially

Lord Killanin Baron Killanin, of Galway in the County of Galway, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History It was created in 1900 for the Irish lawyer and politician Michael Morris, Baron Morris, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Cour ...

and later

Juan Antonio Samaranch Juan Antonio Samaranch y Torelló, 1st Marquess of Samaranch (Catalan: ''Joan Antoni Samaranch i Torelló'', ; 17 July 1920 – 21 April 2010) was a Spanish sports administrator under the Franco regime (1973–1977) who served as the seventh Pre ...

. As of 1980, the membership of the commission consisted of 3 vice presidents of the IOC, 3 representatives of the IFs, and 3 representatives of the NOCS. The Tripartite Commission was replaced by the Olympic Movement Commission following the XI Olympic Congress. The latter commission was itself disbanded in 2001 and replaced by the Olympic Programme Commission.

Modern Tripartite Commission

The modern Tripartite Commission is a three-way collaboration between the IOC, the

Association of National Olympic Committees The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) is an international organization that affiliates the current 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Each year it gathers all its membe ...

, and the IFs (through the

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Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations The Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations (AIOWF) is an association of winter sports federations recognized by the International Olympic Committee that compete in the Olympic Winter Games. Among other tasks, the AIOWF enc ...

) that ensures participation by athletes from NOCs who would, through normal qualification channels, have little or no representation at the Games. An additional objective is to contribute to enhancing and reflecting universality by selecting athletes from such NOCs, which have not been able to qualify, so that they may have an opportunity to be invited to compete in sports and disciplines for which Invitation Places have been reserved. The IOC considers universality to be a fundamental aspect of the Olympics. As of the

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, 16 of the (summer) Olympic sports had a total of 104 quota places reserved for Tripartite Commission invitations. There were 92 eligible NOCs. For context, there are 33 sports, 206 NOCs, and over 11,000 athletes at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Each sport that uses Tripartite Commission invitation places describes the details of its places in its qualification system for each Games. In order to be eligible for a Tripartite Commission invitation, a given NOC has to have an average of no more than 8 athletes in individual sports over the previous two Games. The Tripartite Commission consists of one representative of the IOC, one representative of the IFs, and one representative of the NOCs.

References

{{reflist International Olympic Committee Olympic organizations