As Olympics decision looms, IOC offers guidance for Russian athletes – National | 24CA News

The International Olympic Committee on Tuesday issued suggestions for the gradual return to worldwide competitions for Russian and Belarusian athletes, with president Thomas Bach saying their participation “works” regardless of the continued struggle in Ukraine.

The IOC Executive Board’s suggestions relate just for the return of these athletes in worldwide competitions however not the 2024 Olympics the place a separate resolution shall be taken at a later date, Bach mentioned.

The IOC had sanctioned Russia and Belarus after the February 2022 invasion however it’s now desperate to see athletes come again throughout all sports activities and have an opportunity to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

It has set out a pathway for these rivals to earn Olympic slots by means of Asian qualifying and left it as much as worldwide federations to resolve on organisation, however has confronted headwinds, with Ukraine threatening to boycott the Paris Games ought to they compete there, at the same time as neutrals.

“Participation of athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports in international competitions works,” Bach mentioned in his tackle in the beginning of the IOC’s govt board assembly at its headquarters in Lausanne.

“We see this almost every day in a number of sports, most prominently in tennis but also in cycling, in some table tennis competitions.”

“We see it ice hockey, handball we see it in football and in other leagues in the United States but also in Europe and we also see it in other continents,” he mentioned. “In none of these competition security incidents have been happening.”

2:02Russia strikes deal to station nuclear weapons in Belarus: Putin

Russians and Belarusians have been competing as neutrals in some sports activities however their presence at some occasions, reminiscent of tennis tournaments, has triggered offended reactions from another athletes.

IOC RECOMMENDATIONS

Bach mentioned the suggestions for occasions organisers and sports activities federations to comply with embrace Russian and Belarusian athletes can solely compete as neutrals, with no flag or anthem.

They can not participate in crew occasions and should have a confirmed medicine testing report.

Athletes who help the struggle or are contracted to their international locations’ army or nationwide safety company can not participate.

These suggestions, nevertheless, don’t embrace the Paris 2024 Olympics and the potential participation of Russia and Belarus, Bach mentioned.

“The IOC will take this decision at the appropriate time at its full discretion, without being bound by results of previous Olympic qualifiers,” Bach informed a news convention after the assembly. He didn’t say when the IOC would take that call.

“The IOC expressly reserves the right to decide on their participation (at the Paris Olympics) at the appropriate time.”

A dozen international locations boycotted this month’s ladies’s world boxing championships in protest at their presence on the occasion whereas earlier on Tuesday greater than 300 fencers wrote to Bach to ask the IOC to rethink permitting them again, calling it a “catastrophic error” ought to Russia and Belarus return.

Germany’s elite athletes’ grouping Athleten Deutschland on Tuesday additionally known as on the IOC to ban them utterly at some point of the struggle.

“As long as the war of aggression continues, we consider a complete exclusion of Russia and Belarus to be imperative,” it mentioned in a press release. “The exclusion must apply to federations, officials, and unfortunately also to athletes.

“We call on the IOC to uphold the recommendations on Russia’s exclusion from world sport and to vehemently demand their implementation by the world federations.”

Bach mentioned politics couldn’t be part of sports activities competitions and athletes shouldn’t be punished for his or her passports.

“We will not be able to come up with a solution which pleases everyone. With this we may have to live.”
— Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Christian Radnedge

&copy 2023 Thomson Reuters