(Kyiv) Kyiv will keep up the pressure on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) so that Russian athletes are not allowed to participate in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, after a year of Russian invasion, the leader told AFP on Tuesday. Ukrainian Sports Minister.
“We have to keep pushing” and “probably the IOC will understand that as long as there is a war in Ukraine, the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes is not timely”, Minister Vadym Gutzait said during a interview with AFP.
Russians and Belarusians had been banned from international sports competitions in the wake of the offensive launched by Moscow in February 2022.
This year, as the war continues, the IOC has paved the way for them to return as individuals, under neutral banners and only if the athletes concerned have not “actively” supported the invasion and are not “under contract”. with the Russian army.
The IOC, however, postponed its decision on their participation in the Paris Games.
This decision angered the Ukrainian authorities, who accused the international body of promoting war. Many Western countries have also denounced this project and Kyiv is counting on their weight to keep the Russians and Belarusians out of bounds.
“We hope that the big and strong federations will show solidarity with the Ukrainians” and “that they will not allow them to participate in international competitions” including the Olympic Games, argued Mr. Goutzaït, who has chaired the Ukrainian Olympic Committee.
“We have to defend our cause,” he stressed. Before adding: “We haven’t lost yet”.
The Minister was also surprised at the softening of the IOC’s position vis-à -vis Russian and Belarusian athletes more than a year after the invasion. “Nothing has changed, it just got worse!” How many cities have been destroyed, how many people have been killed—women, children! “, he launched.
For now, Ukrainian athletes are “preparing” and “training”, but in the event of the effective reintegration of Russians and Belarusians, Ukraine could boycott the Paris Olympics, he warned.
“If that happens, we will have to bring together our federations and our athletes” to decide what position to take, the minister stressed, admitting that not all Ukrainian sports federations were in favor of the boycott.
“It’s difficult, the Olympics is the most important moment for every athlete” but “the most important thing for us today is our victory in the war,” he said. “Even if we don’t participate, it’s just a competition,” said this former Olympic fencing champion in 1992.
According to his ministry, at least 273 Ukrainian athletes have been killed since the start of the Russian invasion and at least 343 sports venues destroyed or damaged across the country.