Russia should not “boycott” the Paris Olympic Gamesassured on Wednesday his Minister of Sports, Oleg Matytsindespite the restrictions imposed on the participation of Russian athletes in reaction to the military campaign in Ukraine.
“We must not deviate, close ourselves, boycott this movement”declared the minister in a meeting in which he referred to the Paris Games planned this summer (July 26 – August 11), according to comments collected by the state agency Tass.
He IOC Not only has it imposed on athletes from both countries participation under a neutral flag (a device created during the JJ.OO. 1992 of Barcelona for Serbs and Montenegrins, targets of international sanctions), but added a series of unprecedented criteria.
The affected athletes will only be able to participate as individuals, prohibiting any demonstration of Russian sporting power during the team events, and they will not be able to have actively supported the Russian offensive in Ukraine, a point verified first by the international federations and then by the IOC.
As a final obstacle, the athletes will need to pass the classification tests, despite the fact that some international federations reinstated them very late and others, such as athletics, maintain their total exclusion.
The restriction on Russian athletes from using their flag
Russia has not stopped judging how “humiliating” and discriminatory” the treatment of his athletes, and the president Vladimir Putin He has been keeping his opinion to himself for months about a participation in the Games of Paris.
“To go or not to go? The conditions must be carefully analyzed”declared in December, when only eight Russians and three Belarusians met the criteria of the IOC.
But after rumors of an alleged Russian boycott roiled the sports world this winter, Oleg Matytsin appreciated that “As far as possible, we must preserve the possibility of dialogue and participation in competitions.”
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In any case, the minister declared to wait for the next meeting of the executive committee of the IOCfrom March 19 to 21.
“We will see what the final decision of the IOC will be (…) but so far the position is that there are no new recommendations or regulations”said.
He IOC has always presented its December decision as final, but it still has to address one point: the presence of Russians and Belarusians during the opening ceremony of the JJ.OO.after the International Paralympic Committee have prohibited them from participating in the Paralympic Games on August 28.
Since the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army supported by Belarusat the end of February 2022he IOC seeks a complicated balance between several delicate issues.
Thus, the institution based in Lausanne has attempted to sanction this blatant violation of the Olympic truce decreed for the Winter Olympics 2022 of Beijing and take into account the great Western hostility towards Russian athletes, but at the same time preserve the participation of all athletes, without political consideration.
“With great regret”he IOC initially recommended the exclusion of Russians and Belarusians from international competitions to preserve their own security and avoid an avalanche of boycotts, before organizing their progressive return since March 2023.
In addition, the organization keeps an eye on the competitions launched by Russialike the Future Games, the Games of BRICS in Kazan or the World Friendship Gameswhich will be held from September 15 to 29 in Moscow and Yekaterinburgall of them with an associated risk of fracturing international sport.
Before the offensive against Ukraine, Russia already had a limited participation in the JJ.OO. due to a series of institutional doping scandals that discredited a large number of Russian athletes and officials.
Despite numerous tests, the Kremlin He denied any organized doping system and also described the sanctions as punitive anti-Russian measures.
Source: Ambito
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