Russian and Belarusian athletes are free to compete as neutrals at the 2024 Olympics after the International Olympic Committee said it would “explore a path” for their participation.
The IOC called on federations to expel athletes from the countries following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that Russian athletes “have no place” at the Paris Games.
But the IOC’s announcement on Wednesday could clear the way for their return.
It says that “no athlete can be prohibited from participating in competitions only because of his passport.”
This step was criticized in a joint statement by “Sportsmen for Ukraine” and the association of athletes Global Athlete.
It says that the decision shows that the IOC “endorses Russia’s brutal war and invasion of Ukraine.”
“The return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competition, especially the 2024 Paris Olympics, will lead to the Russian state once again using athletes to bolster the military effort and distract from the atrocities in Ukraine on one of the world’s largest multi-sport stages.” attached to the application.
The IOC said that to compete in the competition, which will also include qualifying events, athletes must compete as neutrals “and not in any way represent their state or any other organization in their country”.
Athletes should not “act against the peacekeeping mission of the IOC by actively supporting the war in Ukraine.”
In December, President Thomas Bach said that the IOC faced a “big dilemma” in ensuring that athletes were not harmed by sports sanctions .
Some sports federations ignored the IOC’s recommendations and allowed individual athletes to compete as neutrals, but others complied.
Lawn Tennis Association fined £820,000 for not allowing Russian and Belarusian players to participate in competitions on grass last summer, including Wimbledon.
The British government claims that Belarus aided and abetted the Russian invasion.
