Vladimir Putin criticized Thursday the IOC’s decision to have Russian athletes participate under a neutral banner during the Paris Olympics. The Russian president says he wants to study “carefully the conditions” to confirm the presence of Russian athletes or decide on a possible boycott.
Published on: 12/14/2023 – 6:24 p.m.
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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) risks “burying the Olympic movement” by requiring Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate under a neutral banner in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris next summer, Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced Thursday, December 14.
“If (international sports leaders) continue to act in the same way, they will bury the Olympic movement. The very idea of Olympism is suffering today,” he lambasted during his major press conference annual organized in Moscow.
The Russian president added that he wanted to “carefully analyze the conditions” before making a final decision on the participation or boycott of Russian athletes in Paris 2024.
At the beginning of December, the IOC announced that it would authorize Russian athletes to participate under a neutral banner in the 2024 Olympics (July 26-August 11), under strict conditions, an authorization deplored by Ukraine.
Facing journalists, Vladimir Putin denounced a decision “in total contradiction, and a perversion of the idea of Pierre de Coubertin”, the visionary founder of the Olympics at the end of the 19th century.
“Under the influence of Western political elites, they make decisions that are favorable to them and unfavorable to world sport,” he continued.
For his part, Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin criticized “discriminatory” conditions which “harm the Olympic Games”, while leaving the door open to Russian athletes eligible for the Olympics who would like to participate.
Russian sport offside
The subject is delicate as Ukraine was opposed to such an eventuality, but its position has evolved since this summer, allowing the IOC to decide after several months of reflection.
At the beginning of December, kyiv denounced a decision which “encourages” Moscow to continue its military offensive in Ukraine launched almost two years ago and which has banned Russia from numerous international organizations.
Since February 2022, the IOC has banned any international event on Russian or Belarusian soil, and any presence of their anthems, flags and officials during competitions.
Furthermore, on October 12, the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee, now deprived of Olympic funding, for having placed under its authority five sports organizations in occupied Ukrainian regions. Moscow has since appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to challenge this decision.
With AFP
