More than 300 active and former fencers have spoken out in an open letter to their world federation FIE and the IOC against the re-admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes.
“We call on you, in your leadership position in the IOC, to uphold the suspensions of the Russian and Belarusian fencing federations and National Olympic Committees that you have recommended.”it said in the letter.
The background to the appeal is that the FIE decided on March 10th that Russian and Belarusian athletes should return. On Tuesday in Lausanne, the IOC executive wants to decide on “guard rails” for the return of the currently banned athletes from the two countries to world sport.
“Breach of the Olympic Truce”
“This egregious, unilateral war of aggression and breach of the Olympic Truce must not be ignored or even condoned. It would be a catastrophic mistake to return to business as usual.”it says in the letter.
Russia’s aggression violate “Not only against the norms of international law, but also against the fundamental values of Olympism, including peace, international understanding, respect for human dignity and human rights.”
According to the authors have been through the war so far “232 athletes were killed, 343 sports facilities destroyed, 40,000 athletes forced to flee abroad and 140,000 young athletes left without good training opportunities. The international community is fully aware that in the case of Russian and Belarusian athletes, the Separation between sport and state can hardly be accomplished.”
