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The IOC recommends the return of the Russians

The International Olympic Committee on Tuesday recommended the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international sports competitions, but under several conditions. The IOC, however, did not comment on their return for the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 and Milan-Cortina 2026.

It was via a very long press release that the International Olympic Committee announced on Tuesday that it recommended the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international sports competitions, from which they have been excluded since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. But this return can only be made under several conditions.

“Athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport can only compete as neutral individual athletes / The participation of teams whose athletes have a Russian or Belarusian passport cannot be considered / Athletes who actively support the war cannot compete / Athletes who are under contract with the Russian or Belarusian military or with national security agencies cannot compete / All neutral individual athletes, like other competing competitors, must meet all anti-doping requirements applicable to them”writes the IOC.

The IOC will make a decision “in due time” for the Olympics

The IOC also recalls that the sanctions it imposed last year remain in force, and in particular “that Russia and Belarus may not hold any international competitions, that no flag, anthem, color or other identification of any kind whatsoever of these countries shall be present at sporting events, and that no representative of the Russian and Belarusian governments or states may not be invited or accredited to an international sports event. »

Regarding the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics and Cortina-Milan 2026 Winter Olympics, the IOC specifies that its recommendations of the day do not concern these two events. “The IOC will make a decision in this regard in due course, at its sole discretion and without being bound by the results of previous Olympic qualifying events, informs the body headed by Thomas Bach. The IOC will carefully monitor the full implementation of these recommendations by all parties concerned. The results of this monitoring will be a determining factor for the IOC when making its decision regarding the participation of athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports in the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. . »

Germany and Poland rise up

This announcement by the IOC has in any case already caused a stir. In Germany, the Minister of Sports considered that this return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to competitions was “ a slap in the face to Ukrainian athletes”. The Polish Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, for his part, mentioned “a day of shame for the IOC”. While Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic countries threaten to boycott the 2024 Olympic Games in the event of Russian and Belarusian presence, this subject has not finished debating…

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