LAUSANNE, March 20, 2024 - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) says Russia’s “very aggressive statements” against the Olympic restrictions on Russian athletes have reached “a new low”.
NEW LOW “It goes beyond anything that is acceptable. And to link the president (Thomas Bach), his nationality (German) and the Holocaust in the context of this issue really reaches a new low,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.
The IOC on Tuesday decided not to allow Russian athletes take part in the athletes parade in the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics on July 26 and also issued a declaration blasting Russia for its “cynical attempt to politicise sport” with its planned Friendship Games.
RUSSIA REACTS Russia reacted, with its Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying in a briefing that: “These decisions demonstrate how far the IOC has moved away from its stated principles and slipped into racism and neo-Nazism.”
Russian athletes who qualify for Paris 2024 will have to fulfil the strict eligibility conditions put in place by the IOC in order to obtain neutral status for the Games. Zakharova described the IOC’s decisions as “wrongful, unjust and unacceptable”, adding that the athletes are being forced to “renounce any association with their homeland, with their citizenship, with their history, culture and people.”
FOLLOW THE RULES Bach was asked about what could bring peace between the IOC and Russia. He said: “That's very clear. Everybody who is following the rules is welcome in the Olympic Movement. So, the moment the Russian Olympic Committee is following the rules, they are welcome. The ball is in their court at this moment.”
POLITICISATION DIVIDES The German warned that "politicisation always leads to division on every level and in every area” and this is why the IOC insists so much on "political neutrality". “That’s the only background for yesterday’s declaration,” he explained. “Politicisation is dividing the world. And this is contrary to the Olympic mission.”
SENDING A SIGNAL OF PEACE However, the Olympic Movement does not have the power "to make peace and to convince people not to hate each other and not to be so aggressive,” Bach said in response to a question about uniting the world with the Games.
"Our mission is to send the signal, to set a symbol that despite all of what is happening in the world it is still possible to come together. This is what we feel and this is the feeling of millions or even billions of people around the globe, who are very much focusing on the Games of such a unifying message. So let us hope that it will unfold like this and that this symbol will also not fade away right with the closing ceremony."
