Some sports will present qualifying events for the 2024 Olympic Games during these European Games.
About 200 Ukrainian athletes expect to take advantage of this opportunity.
It will give these athletes the opportunity to qualify for the 2024 Olympics and show that they exist. It will be a source of pride for the Ukrainian people, who are suffering so much because of the war
said Spyros Capralos, President of the European Olympic Committee.
European Games organizers say the IOC’s recommendation came too late for them to take it into account, and Poland is one of the countries that opposes the return of Russians and Belarusians to sports venues for so long anyway. let the war continue.
The presence of Ukrainians at the European Games is linked the solidarity program set up by National Olympic Committees to provide financial assistance and training assistance for athletes living outside Ukraine
explained Spyros Capralos.
More than a million Ukrainians are currently refugees in Poland, according to official figures.
Polish authorities are working to prepare ticket programs for refugees
said Mr. Capralos.
The third edition of the European Games, launched in 2015 in Baku, Azerbaijan, is organized in Krakow and the capital region.
With 7,000 athletes, it will be the biggest sporting event organized in Europe since the Covid pandemic
noted the boss of the European Olympic Committee.
With the addition of athletics, the 2023 European Games program now has 24 sports or disciplines: athletics, 3×3 basketball, archery, badminton, beach handball, beach soccer, boxing, break dancing, canoeing, cycling, fencing, judo, karate, modern pentathlon, muaythai, kickboxing, padel (derived from small-court tennis), shooting, summer ski jumping, climbing, table tennis, taekwondo, teqball and triathlon.
There are two major absentees: gymnastics and swimming.
