200 Media Cards Gone Missing at Olympic Meetings

About 200 media accreditations for IOC meetings in Moscow have disappeared, an IOC official said Tuesday.

IOC director general Francois Carrard said the accreditations went missing between Lausanne and Moscow. He didn't clarify if they were lost or stolen.

All journalists were told to turn in their accreditations before 9:00pm Tuesday and they would be issued with new ones. The old accreditations won't be valid tomorrow.

"We've discussed this with security and they don't want to take any risks with security measures," Carrard said. "It's a matter of principle for the security."

Carrard declined to say how many cards disappeared but an IOC source said the number was around 200.

An IOC press release early this morning had a different explanation, citing the unexpectedly large number of last minute request for media accreditations had led to some badges being issued twice in order to speed up the accreditation process.

"After careful review of the situation by the authorities, the IOC has been advised to re-issue all media accreditation badges," said the news release.






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