IOC responds to Paris mayor on Olympic plan for Russians

GENEVA — 

The International Olympic Committee pushed again in opposition to the mayor of Paris on Wednesday, insisting there have been no plans for “a Russian or Belarusian delegation” on the 2024 Games whereas additionally acknowledging some athletes from these nations might be welcomed.

The IOC assertion got here a day after Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo mentioned no Russians or Belarusians needs to be allowed to compete at subsequent 12 months’s Olympics due to their involvement within the struggle in Ukraine.

Olympic leaders have set out a path for athletes from Russia and Belarus who haven’t actively supported the struggle to attempt to qualify and compete as “neutral athletes” with out a nationwide identification resembling crew uniforms, flags and anthems.

“It is not possible to parade as if nothing had happened, to have a delegation that comes to Paris while the bombs continue to rain down on Ukraine,” Hidalgo mentioned Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, together with many sports leaders and athletes, have constantly mentioned all potential rivals from Russia or Belarus needs to be banned from Paris, extending a choice that was utilized in most Olympic sports inside days of the struggle beginning final February.

Olympic our bodies and lawmakers within the Baltic and Nordic areas of Europe have additionally publicly supported Ukraine in standing in opposition to the IOC’s most well-liked route. They have warned of a attainable boycott, and are anticipated to hitch an internet name of sports ministers Friday hosted by the British authorities.

Russian athletes have averted being banned outright from the previous 4 Olympics courting again to 2016 in fallout from a scandal of state-backed doping.

At the previous three Olympics, they competed with out their nationwide identification however in uniforms that clearly recognized them as Russians. The first determination for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games was by the IOC, and judges on the Court of Arbitration for Sport determined situations for Russians on the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.

The IOC has cited recommendation from a human rights knowledgeable that banning athletes on the premise of their passport can be discrimination, and sought to make clear its place Wednesday.

“There are no plans for a Russian or Belarusian delegation or the flags of these countries at the Olympic Games Paris 2024,” the Olympic physique mentioned. “The only option that could be considered are individual, neutral athletes like we have seen last year at the French Open in tennis and recently again at the Australian Open in tennis and in other professional sports.”

Tennis and biking are among the many few sports to let Russian and Belarusian athletes proceed to compete with out their nation’s title, flag or anthem.

Though the IOC guided Olympic sports our bodies final February towards excluding Russians and Belarusians from worldwide occasions, that place eased as qualifying ramps up for the Paris Olympics.

Qualification paths are being sought in Asia — resembling on the Asian Games that begin in September in Hangzhou, China — to keep away from safety points and hostility from some rivals which are seemingly in Europe.

Final choices on the attainable eligibility of athletes will relaxation with the governing our bodies of particular person sports. The umbrella group of Summer Olympic sports, generally known as ASOIF, will meet on March 3 to debate the problem.

The French authorities doesn’t rule out a possible “sanction” in opposition to Russia on the Paris Olympics, its spokesperson Olivier Veran mentioned Wednesday in a information convention, answering a query from The Associated Press.

“So far, no official decision has been made with the IOC” concerning the Paris Olympics, Veran mentioned. “But you know that France has been consistently in favor of fully and completely applying any sanction.”