1. The Olympic Games are competitions between athletes in individual or team events and
    not between countries. They bring together the athletes selected by their respective
    NOCs, whose entries have been accepted by the IOC. They compete under the technical
    direction of the IFs concerned.

2. The Olympic Games consist of the Games of the Olympiad and the Olympic Winter
    Games. Only those sports which are practised on snow or ice are considered as winter
    sports.

3. The authority of last resort on any question concerning the Olympic Games rests with the IOC.

4. Notwithstanding the applicable rules and deadlines for all arbitration and appeal procedures,
    and subject to any other provision of the World Anti-Doping Code, no decision
    taken by the IOC concerning an edition of the Olympic Games, including but not limited
    to competitions and their consequences such as rankings or results, can be challenged
    by anyone after a period of three years from the day of the Closing Ceremony of such
    Games.
 

Bye-law to Rule 6

1. An Olympiad is a period of four consecutive calendar years, beginning on the first of
    January of the first year and ending on the thirty-first of December of the fourth year.

2. The Olympiads are numbered consecutively from the first Games of the Olympiad
    celebrated in Athens in 1896. The XXIX Olympiad will begin on 1 January 2008.

3. The Olympic Winter Games are numbered in the order in which they are held.