kyiv rejects Russian athletes participating in the 2024 Olympics and says they are part of the Army machine
The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, has defended this Tuesday the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to the competitions under neutral flag because, as has been seen in various sports, it is a formula that “works” and there have been no “security incidents”.
“The participation of athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports in international competitions works. We see this almost daily in sports like tennis, but also in cycling, in table tennis. We see it in ice hockey, in handball, we see it in soccer and in other leagues of United States“, he said, according to the British chain Sky News.
“In none of these competitions have there been any security incidents”has highlighted Bach during his opening speech at the meeting of the IOC executive committee at its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, in which it is decided whether to continue with the veto imposed on Russians and Belarusians after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 .
The participation or not of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the next 2024 Paris Games It has become another of the issues of this war, with Ukraine threatening the IOC to boycott the Olympic event if it allows the presence of these athletes. kyiv alleges that they are part of the Army machine.
on the eve of the IOC Executive Board Meeting, Its president has already defended the return of the athletes sanctioned due to their passports, since it would lead to “the decline of the international sports system” if athletes are excluded for political reasons.