Paris 2024 is resolved between support and rejection of Russians and Belarusians

As if something were missing to increase tensions between the Kremlin and kyiv, yesterday the news of the death of Ukrainian athlete Volodimir Androshchuk, a decathlon specialist and U-20 national champion, was released, who died in combat near the city of Bakhmut, confirmed by sources from the Ministry of the Interior of that country.

In that city belonging to the Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian athlete Dymtro Sharpar, who represented his country at the Lillehammer 2016 Youth Winter Games in the figure skating competitions, died a few days ago in another confrontation. .

The possibility of Russian and Belarusian athletes being admitted to the Paris 2024 Games by the IOC is firmly rejected by the Ukrainian authorities, who do not even accept that they compete under a neutral flag and want the entity to extend its marginalization as is still the case in football with clubs and with the Russian national team. Ukraine’s position, recently expressed by its president, Volodimir Zelensky, to his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, has the support of the governments of Poland, Norway, Latvia and Estonia, whose prime minister, Kaja Kallas, considered that “admitting them would be a politically and morally wrong decision.

Meanwhile, the United States supports allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under a neutral flag at Paris 2024, but opposes allowing them to display their national flags or emblems, the White House said Thursday. “The United States has supported the suspension of the Russian and Belarusian national sports governing bodies from international sports federations,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

However, if the athletes are invited to an international event, such as the Olympics, “it must be absolutely clear that they do not represent the Russian or Belarusian states,” he said. “The use of official flags, emblems and anthems of the Russian and Belarusian states should also be prohibited,” he added.

The possibility of a boycott is also promoted by the Swedish national athletics team ahead of the European indoor championships that will start on March 2 in

Istanbul based on Ankara’s veto on Sweden’s entry into NATO, a situation that further strained the relationship with Stockholm after the burning of a Koran during a demonstration in that country. An option that is being considered partly for reasons related to security, but also in relation to human rights in that country and that could affect the world and Olympic pole vault champion, Armand Duplantis.

The world record holder in that discipline (with a jump of 6.21 meters) clarified that his possible absence in the contest would not respond to issues related to politics, according to what the prominent athlete whose coach, Daniel Wessfeldt, told the Swedish newspaper Sportbladet. He clarified that “when the schedule was determined, the situation was not as tense as it is now.”