IOC eliminates 12 committees including gender equality in streamlining move

The International Olympic Committee is abolishing 12 permanent committees, including those focused on human rights, gender equality, sustainability and technology, as part of a streamlining and cost-cutting effort under President Kirsty Coventry. The IOC says it will use temporary expert panels and working groups to address priorities as needed, leaving 19 permanent committees. The change follows the IOC’s use of a confidential expert panel for a review of protections for the female category in sports, rather than its gender-equality commission, which is among the bodies being eliminated.