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Today, Friday, the International Olympic Committee put an end to nine months of anticipation by giving the green light to Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate under a neutral flag in the Summer Olympic Games scheduled for Paris, under strict conditions that Russia described as “discriminatory.”
Only “neutral individual” athletes who have passed the qualifiers, do not actively support the war in Ukraine, and are not under contract to the military or national security agencies are eligible to participate.
The International Olympic Committee said, in a statement, that “11 of them currently meet these criteria (8 from Russia and 3 from Belarus), while more than 60 athletes from Ukraine have guaranteed their qualification to the next Olympic Games scheduled for the period from July 26 to August 11.” Next August.
“No flag will be raised, any anthem will be heard, any colors will be disseminated or anything else related to Russia and Belarus will be raised during the Olympics or any official Olympic venue and event,” the statement added.
He concluded, “No Russian or Belarusian government official will be allowed to obtain an accreditation card during the Olympic Games.”
Russian denunciation
Russia denounced the strict conditions of the International Olympic Committee, describing them as “discriminatory and inconsistent with sporting principles,” through a statement by Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsyn.
However, he explained that the Russian athletes who won the right to participate in the 2024 Olympics “will most likely participate.”
“We always support our athletes, because they are members of our sports family,” he added.
After excluding Russians and Belarusians from world sport at the end of February 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the IOC decided in two stages to organize their return, explaining on numerous occasions that athletes should not “pay” the price for their government’s actions.
Last March, the International Olympic Committee recommended for the first time to international federations that the Russians and Belarusians return to their competitions under a neutral flag, while postponing its decision on the 2024 Paris Olympics as well as the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics “until an appropriate time.”
Ukraine’s position
The Olympic Authority gave itself time to evaluate the conduct of the competitions, which it considered generally satisfactory, and to see the development of the position of the Ukrainian government, which first asked its athletes to boycott any event in which Russians participated, before changing its position last July.
Once again, Ukrainian Interim Sports Minister Marvi Bednyi made it clear that he did not want the Russians and Belarusians to participate in the Paris Olympics, considering that their neutral flag was “stained with blood” and fearing that sports would serve “military propaganda purposes.”
But he did not threaten a boycott, while many Ukrainian athletes expressed their desire to face the Russians and beat them on the competition fields.
