Dhe mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, in her speech to the city council of Kyiv on Thursday reiterated her strict opposition to the participation of Russian athletes in the 2024 summer games in her city as long as Russia continues the war against Ukraine and does not leave occupied territories. “As long as the Russians keep bombing you, targeting your civilian population, your infrastructure, waging this war, as long as Russian soldiers occupy your territory, I don’t want Russian athletes to take part in sporting events in Paris,” the Socialist politician said in attendance by the Mayor of Kiev Vitali Klitschko.
The CSU MP Stephan Mayer, sports policy spokesman for his parliamentary group in the Bundestag, also opposes the intention to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus as neutral athletes for the Olympic Games in Paris 2024. The former Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior warns that the International Olympic Committee is on the wrong track with this idea.
“For athletes from Ukraine, it is simply unreasonable to have to compete against athletes from the aggressor Russia and its closest ally Belarus, especially at the Olympic Games,” he says: “Russian and Belarusian athletes remain citizens of these countries, even if they start under a neutral flag. If they win, the spectators will celebrate them as Russians or Belarusians.” In this case, trying to keep sport out of political considerations is naïve. Russia’s war of aggression must also be sanctioned in sport.
