Photo: © Global Look Press/Pavlo Gonchar/Keystone Press Agency
Photo: © Global Look Press/Pavlo Gonchar/Keystone Press Agency
The conditions of admission for athletes from Russia to the 2024 Olympic Games, which will be held in the French capital of Paris, are discriminatory. The head of the Russian Ministry of Sports, Oleg Matytsin, told reporters about this.
This is how Matytsin responded to the IOC’s statements that only athletes from the Russian Federation and Belarus who have qualified for the Games will be allowed to participate in the 2024 Olympics, and only in a neutral status. At the same time, in team sports, athletes from Russia will not be allowed to participate in the Olympics.
“We have been restricted more than once; we have not participated in the Olympic Games for 40 years. Participation in the Olympics is an athlete’s dream. But the conditions are discriminatory and go against the principles of sports.”said the head of the Russian Ministry of Sports.
He added that these actions by the IOC harm the Olympics themselves, and not Russian sports.
“The approach is completely unacceptable”“, the minister concluded.
The 2024 Olympics in Paris will take place from July 26 to August 11 next year.
In February 2022, against the backdrop of the start of a Russian special operation in Ukraine, the IOC recommended that international sports federations ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in competitions.
On March 23, 2023, IOC head Thomas Bach supported the return of Russian athletes in a neutral status. He emphasized that Russians continue to compete in a number of sports around the world. On March 28, the IOC recommended that international federations allow Russians who did not support the special operation to protect Donbass to compete. Such athletes, according to Thomas Bach, will be able to participate in competitions as neutral athletes. For Russian athletes, this status remains the only one possible at international competitions.
Russia has condemned the interference of politicians in the affairs of athletes. Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin previously stated that attempts to dictate the terms of participation of athletes in international competitions are unacceptable. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called the recommendations issued by the IOC xenophobia and nationalism, and also warned that such practices of discrimination based on views over time risk spreading to other areas of life.
On October 12, 2023, the International Olympic Committee suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) until further notice. The decision at the IOC was justified by the fact that the inclusion of representative offices of the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions in the ROC violates the Olympic Charter. It is stated that during the suspension, the ROC will not be able to function as a national Olympic committee and receive funding from the Olympic movement.
The IOC also made it clear that it reserved the decision on the admission of athletes from Russia to the Olympic Games. IOC Communications Director Mark Adams said that the decision on the admission of athletes from Russia to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games will be made closer to the start of the Olympics, which will be held in the French capital of Paris.
On October 13, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said that athletes from Russia should not have ties to the Russian Olympic Committee in order to qualify for admission to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Source: Ren
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