The International Olympic Committee (IOC) called on the states that advocate the removal of the Russian Federation and Belarus from participation in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris to pay attention to human rights and adhere to them.
“<…> statements <…> did not address human rights issues. <…> We are looking for a solution that would be in line with the mission of sport, which is to unite, and not to promote more confrontation or escalation, ”leads “Newspaper.Ru» IOC statement.
Earlier in the day, Oleg Shamonaev, a columnist for Sport-Express, emphasized that the risk of boycotts, which has hung over the Games in recent weeks, must be avoided. He noted that boycotts are not valor, but something that categorically contradicts the spirit of sports and can lead to very sad consequences.
February 15 in Lausanne, Switzerland will host a meeting of the IOC Executive Committee. It is assumed that the topic for discussion will be the return of Belarusian and Russian athletes to the international arena.
On February 12, the newspaper Der Spiegel wrote that the IOC called on countries opposed to the participation of Russia and Belarus in the 2024 Olympics to abandon this requirement. On February 10, 36 countries took a position on the exclusion of athletes from Russia and Belarus from participation in the competition. In a letter sent by the IOC to the Olympic Committees, it says that the International Olympic Committee strongly recommends “not to sign the declaration.”
On January 25, the IOC announced that they would consider the possibility of allowing Russian athletes who do not support the special military operation of the Russian Federation to protect Donbass to compete in a neutral status. In response, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, said that even the wording of the initiative turned out to be too much politics, which “should be alien” to the ideas of the Olympic family.
The XXXIII Summer Olympic Games will be held in Paris from July 26 to August 11, 2024. The organizers of the Olympics confirmed that they intend to follow the decisions of the IOC regarding the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international events.
