Belarus Olympic Committee

Belarus Olympic Committee

Belarus Olympic Committee logo
Country/Region	Belarus
Code	BLR
Created	1991
Recognized	1993
Continental Association	EOC
Headquarters	Minsk, Belarus
President	HE Mr Alexander Lukashenko
Secretary General	Mr Anatol Kotau
Website	www.noc.by/en

The National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus (Russian: Национальный олимпийский комитет Республики Беларусь, Belarusian: Нацыянальны алімпійскі камітэт Рэспублікі Беларусь) is one of many national Olympic committees that make up the International Olympic Committee. Created in 1991, the NOC RB (Belarusian: НОК РБ), is charged with selecting athletes to represent Belarus in the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, enforcing anti-doping laws and promote sporting activity inside Belarus. The current president of the NOC RB is Alexander Lukashenko, the current President of Belarus.

The NOC RB was established on March 22, 1991, in response to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Until that event, Belarus and the other fourteen Soviet Socialist Republics' Olympic activity were controlled by the Olympic Committee of the USSR, which did not disband until 1992. During that same year, Belarus competed in the 1992 Summer and Winter Olympics as part of the Unified Team. Granted temporary membership in 1992, the NOC RB was not granted full membership until the 101st International Olympic Committee Session in the year 1993. Also in 1993, Vladimir Ryzhenkov, who was at the time the Belarus Minister for Sport and Tourism, was elected to the post of President of the NOC RB. Ryzhenkov held the position until his death in 1996, but was replaced in 1997 with Alexander Lukashenko. In Lukashenko's first speech as NOC RB president, he stated there were no other examples of a head of state serving as a NOC Chairman or President at the same time. From 2005 to 2015 George Katulin served as a secretary general of NOC RB.