With next year’s Paris Olympics on the horizon and Russia’s invasion looking more like a prolonged conflict, Ukraine’s sports minister renewed a threat to boycott the games if Russia and Belarus are allowed to compete.
Paris will be the final Olympics under outgoing IOC head Thomas Bach, who is looking to his legacy after a tenure marked by disputes over Russia’s status — first over widespread doping scandals and now over the war in Ukraine.
Russian Olympic Committee head Stanislav Pozdnyakov, who was a teammate of Ukraine’s Huttsait at the 1992 Olympics, called that aspect discriminatory. The IOC, which previously recommended excluding Russia and Belarus from world sports on safety grounds, now argues it cannot discriminate against them purely based on citizenship.urged the IOC to ban Russia and said a boycott was a possibility.
It added bluntly: “Why punish athletes from your country for the Russian government starting the war?”Poland’s sports minister Kamil Bortniczuk said as many as 40 countries could jointly condemn Russian and Belarusian participation at Paris in a statement next week but that it could stop short of a boycott threat. He told state news agency PAP that the IOC was being “naive” and should reflect on its position.
Marta Fedina, 21, an Olympic bronze medalist in artistic swimming, said in Kyiv she was “ready for a boycott.” If the IOC’s proposal takes effect, Paris would be the fourth straight Olympics where Russian athletes have competed without the national flag or anthem. The Russian teams at the Winter Olympics in 2018 and 2022 and the Summer Olympics in 2021 were all caught up in the fallout from a series of doping cases.was in 1988, when North Korea and others refused to attend the Summer Games in South Korea.
The International Cycling Union signed on to the IOC’s plan ahead of its Olympic qualifying events to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as “neutrals.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Ukraine Steps Up Efforts to Exclude Russia From Paris OlympicsUkraine stepped up efforts Friday to lobby international sports leaders against Russian participation in next year's Paris Olympics as indications mount that the games could see the biggest boycott since the Cold War.
Read more »
Ukraine pushes to exclude Russia from 2024 Paris OlympicsNo nation has declared it will boycott the 2024 Summer Games.
Read more »
Ukraine pushes to exclude Russia from 2024 Paris OlympicsNo nation has declared it will boycott the 2024 Summer Games, but such a move could lead to the biggest rift in the Olympic movement since the Cold War era.
Read more »
NATO urges Russia to respect its nuclear treaty, which Russia suspended when the US supported UkraineNATO is urging Russia to comply under the New START Treaty, which enforces an expansion limit on nuclear weapons. Russia suspended the treaty when the U.S. supported Ukraine in the war.
Read more »
IOC pushes back against response to Russians possibly competing in Paris OlympicsThe International Olympic Committee is standing by sanctions against the governments of Russia and Belarus but is leaving the door open to athletes from those countries competing in the 2024 Summer Games despite Ukraine's threat of a boycott.
Read more »