The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has approved the neutral participation of athletes from Belarus and Russia in the next games, which has angered Ukrainian officials.
The IOC stated on Friday that athletes from Belarus and Russia who make it to the Paris 2024 Olympics in their respective sports will be allowed to compete without wearing flags, symbols, or anthems, unless they are competing in team events and do not actively support the conflict in Ukraine.
In a social media post criticising the decision, Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba claimed that “the IOC essentially gave Russia the green light to weaponize the Olympics.”
“Because every athlete from Belarus and Russia will be a tool in the Kremlin’s propaganda war. I want all allies to vehemently denounce this despicable choice, which betrays Olympic ideals,” he continued.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the athletes were first prohibited from participating internationally; however, they have since been progressively permitted to return as neutral athletes in the majority of sports.
Eight Russians and three Belarusians are among the 4,600 competitors worldwide who have already qualified for the July opening of the Summer Games, according to the IOC.
They will not be permitted to send teams from either of the two countries to Paris; they will only be permitted to compete in individual sports. The IOC has stated that no official from the Russian or Belarusian government would be invited or credentialed for Paris 2024, but they contend that sportsmen should not be held responsible for the policies of their countries.
Oleg Matytsin, Russia’s Minister of Sports, referred to the action as “discriminatory.”
Over sixty athletes from Ukraine have earned spots in the Paris Olympics for the next year. Next year, there will be roughly 11,000 competitors competing in the games.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian leaders, together with athletes, have pushed the IOC to completely ban Russia and Belarus.
However, athletes from Belarus and Russia were to be accepted under a neutral flag “as soon as possible,” according to members of national Olympic committees and international sports federations.
Before the decision was made on Thursday, Ukraine’s Minister of Sport Matviy Bidnyi told the AFP news agency that Kyiv was worried the action suggested the IOC “does not want to demonstrate the necessary leadership in the matter of Olympic fairness and justice.”
“Any neutral flag of Russian athletes is stained with blood, as President Volodymyr Zelensky so eloquently stated,” Bidnyi remarked.
Giving up their Russian passport is “the only possible way today for an athlete to prove Olympic excellence is his first priority,” he continued, adding that “neutrality” becomes irresponsible when there is a conflict and one government using its passports is destroying another one.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, charged earlier this year that the IOC was engaging in “ethnic discrimination” through the games.