2023-07-13 19:11:31
Olympic Games 2024
No IOC invitation for Russia and Belarus
On July 26, the International Olympic Committee will send 203 invitations for Paris 2024. For the moment, there are none for the two countries at war.
PostedJuly 13, 2023, 9:11 PM
The IOC, here the headquarters in Lausanne, will decide on a possible Russian or Belarusian participation when it wants.
AFP
The International Olympic Committee will send its invitations for the 2024 Paris Olympics to 203 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) on July 26, but not to Russia or Belarus, for which it reserves its decision, he said Thursday.
If the Lausanne body has been insisting since March that it will decide “in due time” the delicate question of the presence under a neutral flag of Russian and Belarusian athletes in Paris, the suspense remained on its management of official invitations, traditionally addressed to NOCs a year before the opening ceremony.
It put an end to it on Thursday by updating, on its website, the “questions and answers” written in the spring, after the recommendation made to the international federations to reinstate Russian and Belarusian athletes in their competitions, provided that they did not not actively supported the war in Ukraine since February 2022.
No athletics and team sports
The IOC therefore indicates that it will send invitations for the next Summer Games on July 26 “to the 203 eligible NOCs”, excluding those of Russia and Belarus “as well as Guatemala”, suspended since October 2022 for health problems. political interference.
The Olympic organization confirms in passing that it will decide on a possible Russian or Belarusian participation when it wishes, “at its sole discretion and without being bound by the results of the previous Olympic qualifying events”.
Even if the IOC would accept athletes from both countries, under a neutral banner, their presence is already announced to be limited: their participation in team sports or team events “cannot be considered”, repeats the organization since March, and the international athletics federation – a major Olympic sport – still refuses to reinstate them in its competitions.
(AFP)Show comments
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