Russian athletes should not compete in 2024 Paris Olympics: Zelensky tells Macron

Kyiv:

There should be “no place” for Russian athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday as his country marked 11 months of war.

“I specifically stressed that athletes from Russia should have no place at the Olympic Games in Paris,” Zelensky wrote in a telegram after a telephone call with Macron.

Russia launched its offensive on February 24 last year, just days after the closing ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee swiftly imposed sanctions on Russia and neighboring Belarus, which Moscow’s military used as a launchpad for the attack.

No international sporting events have been held in Russia or Belarus since the outbreak of the conflict and the countries’ national symbols have been removed from such major competitions.

IOC chief Thomas Bach said last year that he wanted to extend the sports ban to 2023 and see a strong Ukrainian team at the Paris Olympics and the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

In December, Zelensky called for a complete isolation of all Russian athletes from international competitions.

The Ukrainian president also told Bach that he strongly opposed the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s idea that Russian and Belarusian athletes could compete at the Paris Games as long as they raised their countries’ flags.

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