All athletes who will be “ready to follow the conditions” decreed by the International Olympic Committee will be the “welcome” at the Paris Olympic Games, said IOC President Thomas Bach on Saturday March 16, when asked about the case of Russian athletes.
On Wednesday, Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin estimated that his country should not “boycott” the Olympics, despite the restrictions imposed on the participation of its athletes in reaction to the offensive in Ukraine.
“We have so many contradictory messages coming from Russia that I am not going to comment on all the opinions that are expressed”reacted Thomas Bach on Saturday, questioned about these statements by Oleg Matytsin.
“What we fear (…) is that there will be statements that become more and more aggressive on the part of Russia and the government of Russia. So, we’ll see what happens.”continued the IOC President, traveling to Chamonix as part of the celebration of the centenary of the first Olympic Winter Games.
Russian and Belarusian athletes under neutral banner
“We put conditions. These conditions will not be changed: whoever is ready to follow these conditions is welcome in Paris. Anyone who doesn’t want to follow them is not welcome.”concluded Thomas Bach, in the presence in particular of the French Minister of Sports and the Olympic Games Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.
The IOC requires Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in the next Olympic Games in Paris (July 26-August 11) under a neutral banner – a system forged during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics for Serbs and Montenegrins hit by international sanctions. The rules will be the same for the Paralympic Games (August 28-September 8).
The athletes concerned will also only be able to compete as individuals, which effectively prohibits any demonstration of Russian sporting power during team events, and they must not have actively supported the Russian offensive in Ukraine – full stop double verified by the international federations and then the IOC.
Putin reserves his opinion on participation
Russia has never stopped judging “humiliating” et “discriminatory” the treatment reserved for its athletes, and its president Vladimir Putin has been reserving his opinion on participation in the Paris Olympics for several months.
“We must not turn away, close ourselves off, boycott this movement”said Minister Oleg Matytsin during a meeting on Wednesday, referring to next summer’s Olympics, according to the state agency Tass, adding: “We must, as much as possible, preserve the possibility of dialogue and participation in competitions”.
The Minister of Sports, however, said he was waiting for the next meeting of the IOC Executive Board, from March 19 to 21.
Source : Nouvelobs
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