Message to Athletes – BAC collaborating with the BOA Athletes' Commission to establish athlete views on Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter

16th June, 2020

Dear Athlete Members,

Some of you will have received an open letter from the British Olympic Association (BOA) Athletes' Commission regarding the important matter of athletes' rights to freedom of expression, and expressly Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter.  As stated within the letter, the BOA Athletes' Commission wishes to open dialogue with athletes to explore ways in which athletes can best express their support for the principles of the Olympic Charter, specifically Principle 6, which states: "The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in the Olympic Charter shall be secured without discrimination of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status."

As the independent membership organisation for all World Class Performance Programme funded athletes, with an existing Athlete Representative network across sports, the BAC will be supporting the BOA Athletes’ Commission to proactively canvas the opinion of our members on this important subject.

The BAC will be facilitating an Athlete Representative Network meeting on Thursday 18th June featuring Ben Hawes, Chair of the BOA Athletes' Commission.   We would urge all relevant athlete representatives to attend this meeting, and for all athletes who would like to express their view, to speak with their athlete representative over the coming days.