Although the Olympic Charter, the official constitution of the Olympic movement, proclaims that the Olympics are contests among individuals and not among nations, the IOC assigns to the various NOCs the task of selecting national Olympic teams. In most cases the NOCs do this by holding Olympic trials or by choosing athletes on the basis of their previous performances. From the start of the modern Olympic Games, male amateur athletes of every race, religion, and nationality have been qualified to participate. Although Coubertin, the establisher of the modern Olympic Games, opposed the participation of women in the Olympics and no women competed in 1896, a few female were allowed to participate in the 1900 Games. Female swimmers and divers were admitted to the 1912 Games, and female gymnasts and track-and-field athletes first competed at the 1928 Games. Currently women account for approximately half of the members of teams, except in teams from Islamic nations, where the level of female participation is generally lower. Coubertin and the IOC intended from the start for the Olympics to be open only to amateurs. Amateurism was determined by adherence (遵守) to the amateur rule which was originally devised in the 19th century to prevent working-class athletes from participating in sports such as rowing and tennis. Because the amateur rule prevented athletes from earning any pay from activities in any way related to sports, working-class athletes could not afford both to make a living and train for competition. Olympic rules about amateurism, however, have caused many controversies over the years. Such questions as whether an amateur could be paid for travel expenses, be compensated for time lost at work, or be employed to teach sports have been raised, but they have not always been satisfactorily resolved by the IOC, leading to confusion about the definition of professionalism in different sports. By 1983 a majority of IOC members acknowledged that most Olympic athletes compete professionally in the sense that sports are their main activity. The IOC then asked each International Sports Federation (ISF) to determine qualification in its own sport, and over the next decade nearly all the ISFs gave up the distinction between amateurs and professionals.

单选题 In the first sentence of the passage, the word "proclaims" most probably means_______.

单选题 It can be inferred from the first paragraph that_______.

单选题 The passage indicates that there are far fewer female athletes than male athletes in Islamic countries because______.

单选题 According to Coubertin and the IOC rules, amateurism restricts that _______.

单选题 The passage discusses most clearly _______.