Olympic leaders welcome United Nations resolution

The Olympics and politics have never made an easy pair, not with a tradition of nations boycotting, or threatening to boycott, the Games.

So it makes sense that the International Olympic Committee would praise a United Nations resolution calling for “the independence and autonomy of sport as well as the mission of the IOC in leading the Olympic Movement.”

The IOC immediately interpreted this as a clear signal for governments to butt out.

“We highly welcome this resolution as a historic milestone in the relations between sport and politics,” IOC President Thomas Bach said Monday, adding: “This relationship with governments requires that sport always remains politically neutral.”

The U.S. and former Soviet Union took turns skipping the Games over their political differences in the 1980s.

Just last winter, there were calls for a boycott of the Sochi Winter Games to protest of Russia’s anti-gay laws.

Speaking before the U.N. last year, Bach said that sports have “to enjoy responsible autonomy. Politics must respect this sporting autonomy.”

Twitter: @LATimesWharton