Bhutan Olympic Committee

Bhutan Olympic Committee
Country/Region Bhutan
CodeBHU
Created23 November 1983
Recognized1983
Continental
Association		OCA
HeadquartersThimphu, Bhutan
PresidentPrince Dasho Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck
Secretary GeneralSonam Karma Tshering
Websitebhutanolympiccommittee.org

The Bhutan Olympic Committee (BOC) is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) representing Bhutan. It was founded in February 1983, and became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 23 November 1983. Bhutan satisfied the IOC's criterion of five national sports federations recognised by their international sports federations to get recognised. The current president has been Prince Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck since 2009.

History

The National Sports Association of Bhutan (NSAB) was established in 1972 and was the precursor of the Bhutan Olympic Committee (BOC).[1] The BOC was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 23 November 1983,[a] after being founded in February of that year by the former Foreign Minister of Bhutan, Lyonpo Dawa Tsering.[3][2] In addition to the IOC, the BOC is also part of the five other international sports bodies: the Association of National Olympic Committees, Olympic Council of Asia, South Asia Olympic Council, Asia-Pacific Oceana Sports Assembly, and Far East and South Pacific Games Federation for the Disabled.[4] To be recgonized by the IOC they needed a minimum of five National Sports Federation, which they achieved.[5]

Afterwards, they made their debut in the archery event of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games held in Los Angeles. Six archers from Bhutan, three men and three women, participated in the event.[6] In July 2003, the Department for Youth, Culture & Sports of Bhutan was established under the aegis of the Ministry of Education, with the objective to develop “a holistic approach and policy for sports and social development. Bhutan”.[7] As of 2024, the BOC has affiliations with a total of 16 National Sports Federations.[8][9]

Bhutan and the Netherlands were involved in a cooperation programme starting 2001. This programme's function is to improve archery, a national sport in Bhutan. The intention was for Bhutan to become one of the leading countries in Olympic archery at the 2012 Games. The bilateral cooperation resulted in publication of a book, in 2004, on traditional and modern archery in Bhutan and the Netherlands, and a documentary film on Bhutan Olympic Archery that was screened in Germany and other international channels. Similar cooperation was extended to football by the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB).[7] In 2004 the Bhutan Archery Federation was honored with a Prince Claus Award from the Netherlands.[10]

Sports

For each Olympic Summer Games since 1984, Bhutan has fielded male and female archers. Archery is the national sport of Bhutan. They have never competed in the Winter Games or the other events of the Summer Games; they also have not yet won an Olympic medal.[11][12]

While archery is the national sport of Bhutan and the only sport in which it participates in the Olympics, other popular sports in the country are tug of war, basketball, football and cricket. Adventure sports such as trekking, rafting, mountain biking and rock climbing are also popular.[12][13]

Archery is very popular throughout Bhutan — each village has an archery range. However, until recently its equipment base was traditional (hand-carved bamboo bows); these have now been replaced by modern and high-tech equipment for international games.[12]

Leadership

The current President of the BOC is Prince Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck, serving since 2009 as their seventh President.[14]

Presidents[14]
# Name Term Start Term End
1 Lyonpo Dawa Tsering 1983 1996
2 Lyonpo Dago Tshering 1996 1998
3 Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup 1998 2003
4 Lyonpo Thinley Gyamtsho 2003 2005
5 Lyonpo Ugyen Tshering 2006 2006
6 Lyonpo Kinzang Dorji 2006 2009
7 Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck 2009 Incumbent

Documentary

A documentary film known as “The Other Final” was filmed based on a special football match arranged by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) that was played between the 202nd placed (out of 203 worldwide) Bhutan and 203rd-ranked Montserrat.[12]

Honours

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Olympedia states it was given recognition by the IOC in April 1984.[2]

References

  1. ^ "October '12". National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  2. ^ a b "Bhutan (BHU)". Olympedia.org. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  3. ^ "About". Bhutan Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
  4. ^ "About". Bhutan Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
  5. ^ "About Us". Bhutan Olympic Committee. 2024-12-21. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  6. ^ "The Athens Olympiad: Bhutan to compete in archery". Retrieved 2010-04-20.
  7. ^ a b "Partnership Bhutan-Netherlands". Toolkit sport for development. Archived from the original on 4 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
  8. ^ "Bhutan Olympic Committee | Leading Sports Authority in Bhutan & Asia". 2023-01-12. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  9. ^ "Affiliations | Bhutan Archery Federation". Archived from the original on 27 July 2024. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  10. ^ Prince Claus Fund, Bhutan Archery Federation profile
  11. ^ "Archery: the Real Game is Played Elsewhere". KUENSEL, Bhutan's national newspaper. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
  12. ^ a b c d "Bhutanese Archery". Interesting Things of the day. Archived from the original on 2 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
  13. ^ "Bhutan Olympic Committee". Official Website of the 16th Asian Games. Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
  14. ^ a b "BOC Governance - Bhutan Olympic Committee". 2025-01-02. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
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