The path is paved for Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the Paris 2024 Games. Before the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the IPC – its Paralympic counterpart – declared itself, Friday, September 29, in favor of participation, under the banner neutral and on an individual basis, para-athletes from both countries.
After having rejected by the majority of its members, meeting in a general assembly in Manama (Bahrain) since Wednesday, the hypothesis of a total suspension of the Russian and Belarusian Paralympic committees – and therefore of their athletes –, the IPC decided declared, during a second vote, in favor of a partial suspension for two years of the members of the Russian (90 votes for, 56 votes against and 6 abstentions) and Belarusian (79 votes for, 57 against and 9 abstentions) committees. A sanction which, however, does not apply to para-athletes from the two allied countries.
“I expect all IPC members to respect the decision taken today at the general assembly. I now hope that as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games approach, we will focus on sport and the performance of para-athletes,” said Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee, in a statement after the votes.
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After these choices by the IPC, there is little doubt about the future position of the IOC on the participation of Russians and Belarusians in the Paris Games. Indeed, the body based in Lausanne, which reserves its decision “at an appropriate date, in its sole discretion”, has been working for several months to convince refractory international federations to reintegrate into their ranks – under neutral status and only on an individual basis – the athletes banned since the war in Ukraine. This would allow them to compete in the qualifying events for the Olympic competitions.
Certainly, the International Paralympic Committee and the IOC are two independent and autonomous organizations. But Thomas Bach, the head of the IOC, will be able to avail himself of the IPC’s decision when it comes to justifying an invitation to the Russians to the Olympic celebration. And this, even without the flags, the anthems and the official national outfits.
“Political manipulation”
Above all, the IPC conveniently prevents the IOC from being the first to pronounce on an eminently sensitive geopolitical question less than ten months before the opening ceremony on the Seine. The historian specializing in Olympism Patrick Clastres detects “a life-size test which allows the IOC to see how international reactions to this decision are manifested”.
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