Such a move could lead to the biggest rift in the Olympic movement since the Cold War era.
No country has announced that it will boycott the 2024 Summer Games. But Ukraine won support from Poland, the Baltic countries and Denmark, who opposed the International Olympic Committee’s plan to allow delegations from Russia and ally Belarus to compete in Paris as “neutral athletes” without a flag or anthem.
Read also: International Olympic Committee stands by sanctions against Russia and Belarus
“We cannot compromise on the entry of Russian and Belarusian athletes,” said Ukrainian sports minister Vadim Hatsait, who heads its National Olympic Committee, citing attacks on his country, the deaths of its athletes and the destruction of its sports facilities. are also
A meeting of his committee did not commit to a boycott but approved a plan to try to persuade global sports officials over the next two months – including discussion of a possible boycott.
Hatsat said: “As a last option, but I note that this is my personal opinion, if we do not succeed, we will have to boycott the Olympic Games.”
Paris will be the last Olympics under outgoing IOC chief Thomas Bach, who is looking to build his legacy after a tenure marked by controversies over Russia’s position – first over widespread doping scandals and now over the war in Ukraine.
Bach’s ideas took shape when he was an Olympic gold medalist in fencing and his country, West Germany, participated in the US-led boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He has since condemned that decision.
Russia has cautiously welcomed the IOC’s decision to grant a path to the Olympics, but demands it drop a condition that would exclude athletes deemed to be “actively supporting the war in Ukraine”. Is.
The head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, who was Ukraine’s Hatsat partner at the 1992 Olympics, called that aspect discriminatory. The IOC, which previously recommended Russia and Belarus be excluded from the World Games on security grounds, now argues that it cannot discriminate against them purely on the basis of citizenship.
The leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania urged the IOC to ban Russia and said a boycott was a possibility.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kailas said, “I think it should be our effort to reassure our other friends and allies that the involvement of Russian and Belarusian athletes is wrong.” “So boycotting is the next step. I think people will understand why this is necessary.”
In a statement, the IOC said, “This threat of boycott only exacerbates the situation in sport, but in a wider context. It is regrettable that politicians are misusing athletes and sport to achieve their political objectives.” “
It pointedly added: “Why punish your country’s athletes for the Russian government starting the war?”
Poland’s Sports Minister Kamil Bortniczuk said in a statement next week that 40 countries could jointly condemn Russian and Belarusian participation in Paris but it could play down the threat of a boycott. He told state news agency PAP that the IOC was “naïve” and should consider its position.
Danish Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said, “Denmark wants a ban on Russian athletes from all international sports as long as their attacks on Ukraine continue.”
“We must not waver with regard to Russia. The government’s line is clear. Russia should be banned.
Asked by The Associated Press about the boycott threats and the IOC plan, Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, would not comment “about political decisions”.
“My job is to make sure that all athletes who want to participate are offered the best conditions in terms of security, so that they have the chance to live their dreams,” he said in Marseille.
Ukraine boycotted some sporting events last year, preferring to compete against the Russians.
Hutsait said that the boycott would be very difficult, saying that “It was very important for us that we have our flag at the Olympic Games; it is very important for us that our athletes are on the podium. So that we can show that ours was Ukraine, is and will be.”
Marta Fedina, 21, an Olympic bronze medalist in artistic swimming, said in Kyiv that she was “ready to boycott”.
“How am I going to explain to my guards if I am on the same playing field with these guys,” she said, referring to the Russian athletes. Warning.
Speakers at the assembly meeting of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee raised concerns about Moscow using Paris for propaganda and noted close ties between some athletes and the Russian military.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Thursday that if athletes from both countries compete, “it should be absolutely clear that they are not representing the Russian or Belarusian states.” Los Angeles will host the 2028 Olympics.
If the IOC’s proposal takes effect, Paris will be the fourth straight Olympics where Russian athletes have competed without a national flag or anthem. The Russian teams at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics and the 2021 Summer Olympics were implicated in the fallout of a series of doping cases.
The last time multiple countries boycotted the Olympics was in 1988, when North Korea and other countries refused to participate in the Summer Games in South Korea. The North Korean team did not appear in the Tokyo Games in 2021, citing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. The IOC consequently barred it from the following Winter Games in Beijing, saying that teams had a duty to participate in each Olympics.
While the IOC has set the tone of the debate by publishing advice on how to find ways to help Russia and Belarus compete, decisions on the 32-sport Paris schedule must be made for the governing bodies of the individual sports that organize the event. .
Those organizations, many of which are based in Lausanne, Switzerland, the home of the IOC, run their own qualifications and Olympic competitions and decide eligibility criteria for athletes and teams.
The International Cycling Union signed off on the IOC’s plan ahead of its Olympic qualifying events to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as “neutrals”.
Track and field’s World Athletics and soccer’s FIFA were involved in most sports that did not include Russian athletes and teams within days of the start of the war. Tennis and cycling continue to compete with many Russians and Belarusians as neutral. Other governing bodies are more closely associated with the IOC or have traditionally had strong commercial and political ties to Russia.
A major meeting in Lausanne of the umbrella group of Summer Games sports, known as ASOIF, could take place on March 3. It is chaired by former IOC member Francesco Ricci Bitti, when he headed the International Tennis Federation, and includes the President of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe.
ASOIF declined to comment on Friday, though noted this week “the importance of respecting the uniqueness of each association and their special qualification process for Paris”.
The text of this story is published from a wire agency feed without any modification. Only the headline has been changed.
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