Russia excluded from 2024 Olympic Games by IOC: outraged reaction

Russia has reacted “outraged” to the IOC decision to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from the opening parade in Paris. The Kremlin is also defending itself against alleged “intimidation” of athletes who want to take part in the planned “friendly games”. The conflict between Russia and the IOC comes to a head a few months before the start of the Summer Games – with strong criticism from Moscow. Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, accused the IOC of “racism and neo-Nazism.”

The International Olympic Committee decided on Tuesday to only allow Russians and Belarusians to attend the opening ceremony on the Seine as spectators. The athletes from both countries are only allowed in Paris as “neutral individual athletes”; teams are completely excluded.

Russia: IOC decisions “illegal, unfair and unacceptable”

Zakharova described the IOC decisions on Wednesday as “illegal, unfair and unacceptable” and condemned the “discrimination.” The decisions show how far the IOC has strayed from its own principles, said Zakharova. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attacked the IOC against the “Friendly Games” after an offensive statement from Lausanne.

The Olympic organizers had described the threatened competitive event as “a cynical attempt to politicize sport” and warned the nations of the Olympic movement against taking part. “This is intimidation of athletes and completely undermines the authority of the IOC,” Peskov said.

Christoph Becker and Michaela Wiegel, Paris Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 6 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 5 Christoph Becker Published/Updated: Recommendations: 11

In the past few days, the conflict between the IOC and Russia had come to a head. President Thomas Bach, who has maintained excellent relations with Russia for years, said in an interview with the newspaper “Le Monde”: “The aggressiveness of the Russian government is growing day by day, against the committee, against the games, against me.”