Saudi Arabia's Jeddah United train before a friendly basketball game in Amman Tessa Jowell, the Olympics minister, has accused Saudi Arabia of "clearly breaking the spirit" of the Games, by stopping women taking part at London 2012. The Middle East country is under mounting pressure to include female competitors in their team, after a Human Rights Watch report released earlier in February called for Saudi Arabia to be banned from taking part altogether, due to their discrimination.
The report, published on February 15, concluded that going against promises to create more opportunities for females "the Saudi government continues to flagrantly deny women and girls their right to practise physical education in schools and to practise recreational and competitive sport more generally".
Historically, Saudi Arabia has never funded a female team at the Games and, in addition, its national Olympic committee does not even have a women's section. It now seems highly unlikely that a women's team will be assembled in time for London 2012.
While Jowell, a former culture secretary who is also a member of the Olympics Board, has stopped short of calling for a ban on the Saudi team, she has urged the government to adopt a more liberal approach and noted that Afghanistan was barred from entering the 2000 Sydney Olympics because of its attitude to women under Taliban rule.
She said that the government were "clearly breaking the spirit of the Olympic Charter's pledge to equality" with their attitude to women in sport, and continued: "The London Games would be the perfect opportunity for the Saudis to spell out a way forward.
"I would like to see them set out a clear plan for equal inclusion of women in time for the 2016 games in Rio de Janiero. This has to be a substantive commitment."
A spokesman for the International Olympic Committee insisted that progress is slowly being made, and said: "The IOC strives to ensure the Olympic Games and the Olympic movement are universal and non-discriminatory, in line with the Olympic Charter and our values of respect, friendship and excellence.
"National Olympic committees are encouraged to uphold that spirit in their delegations. The IOC does not give ultimatums or deadlines, but believes a lot can be achieved through dialogue."