Olympic Games

Future Olympic events are poised to drive sustainability in sport and fight climate change, led by a set of game-changing measures adopted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and supported by the UN.

Speaking to UN News ahead of the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, observed on 6 April, IOC’s legacy director, Tania Braga, explains how the 2024 Paris Games will be the first time that new sustainability guidelines will be fully implemented, aligning sport with development and climate action.

In today’s show, solutions to child labour in Cambodia where one teenager has a dream; over in Tokyo, UN health agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wishes the Olympic Games well but reminds us COVID-19 is racing ahead, particularly in Africa; also in the news, the High Commissioner for Human Rights issues an alert about the apparently widespread use of spy software.

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All Olympic athletes, both able and disabled, deserve recognition and widespread media coverage.

That’s according to Guozhong Zhang, formerly of the Chinese National Paralympic Committee and current officer for the UN Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

The Paralympic Games are due to get underway on Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro, two weeks after the Olympic Games ended, but there has been a significant drop in funding for the event.