With 100 days until the Summer Olympics in Paris, it remains unclear whether athletes from Russia who qualify for the event will get their country’s permission to participate.
The issue is rather whether Moscow will accept the conditions listed by the International Olympic Committee, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ultimately, this decision may come down to the individual athletes.
The IOC estimates that 36 Russian athletes — a number that could rise to 54 — will be able to qualify for the events in Paris.
The IOC will grant them the status of “neutral athlete”, which means that they will not be able to use their country’s flag, their national anthem, nor participate in team disciplines, such as soccer and basketball. . Athletes who have ties to the military, or who have expressed support for the war in Ukraine, will be excluded.
The same conditions apply to Russia’s ally, Belarus. Athletes from Russia and Belarus will also be barred from participating in the opening ceremony, which is scheduled for July 26.
Russian President Vladimir Putin disputed these conditions, and he asked the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and its Sports Ministry to submit recommendations regarding the participation of the country’s athletes in the Paris Olympics.
The COR and its Ministry of Sports have divergent opinions.
In a series of social media posts, NRC President Stanislav Pozdnyakov alleged that the IOC is “constantly developing farcical conditions” for athletes and “constantly issuing foreign policy directives in order to isolate Russian sport “. On April 5, he linked Russian tennis players who wish to participate in the tournament in Paris to “a team of foreign agents”, claiming that they are playing to pocket money outside the Russia and that they are reluctant towards its policies. Pozdnyakov holds the title of colonel in the Russian army.
For his part, Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin believes that Russia should not boycott the Olympics.
“We must preserve a communication channel as best we can and participate in these competitions,” Matytsin said last month in an interview with the Russian news agency Tass.
Russia sent 335 athletes to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 — it won 20 gold medals, and 71 in total. Russian athletes competed in the Olympics without their country’s symbol in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018, and Beijing, China, in 2022, following the institutionalized doping scandal that was uncovered in Putin’s country .
Ukraine contests Russia’s participation in the Paris Olympics, but has relaxed its policy of boycotting the event on the condition that Russian athletes compete under a neutral banner.
IOC President Thomas Bach suggested last month that “boycott threats” from both countries are now over.