The International Olympic Committee responded to the remarks of the mayor of Paris on Wednesday, recalling that there are no plans to “allow the presence of a Russian or Belarusian delegation” at the 2024 Summer Olympics, but admitting in the same breath that some athletes from these countries could participate.
The IOC statement was issued a day after Mayor Anne Hidalgo stepped out, saying Russians and Belarusians should not be admitted to the 2024 Olympics because of their respective countries’ roles in the war in Ukraine. .
“We have no plan that would allow a Russian or Belarusian delegation to parade with its flag at the Paris Olympics in 2024,” said the IOC. The only conceivable alternative is one that would allow athletes to evolve, individually, under a neutral banner, as we saw last year at the French Open or at the Australian Open earlier this year. and in other professional sports events. »
The leaders of the Olympic movement have devised a plan that would allow Russian and Belarusian athletes who have not actively supported the war in Ukraine to attempt to qualify for the Olympics as “neutral athletes”, i.e. say without national identity, official uniform, flag or national anthem.
“It’s impossible to pretend nothing has happened, to have a delegation in Paris while bombs are raining down on Ukraine,” Hidalgo said on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as many sports leaders and athletes, have repeatedly said that all Russian or Belarusian athletes should be kept away from the Paris Olympics. This decision would thus mirror the one adopted by most international sports federations in the days following the start of the war in Ukraine, in February 2022.
The final decision on the eligibility of Russian and Belarusian athletes will likely rest with the international federations that oversee individual sports. The organization that brings together all summer Olympic sports, called ASOIF, will meet on March 3 to discuss this issue.