“This is not the time to remove sanctions” from Russian sport, the IOC said

Sanctions against Russian and Belarusian sports arising from the invasion of Ukraine by their country’s army do not seem to be lifted in the short term, after indicating to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that its position has been the same “since February”.

“Our position has not changed since February,” said body spokesman Mark Adams, referring to a recent speech by President Thomas Bach to the National Olympic Committee Assembly. “If the president has clarified something, this is not the time to lift the sanctions,” he said.

The war situation is “changing” and monitored daily, Adams said, but recalled that “the mission of the Olympic Movement is to unite the world in peace.”

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, between the Olympic Games and Winter Paralympics in Beijing, which the IOC considers a violation of the Olympic truce. For this reason, he recommended that the federations not organize any competition on the territory of Russia or its ally Belarus and that their athletes compete only if they are deprived of their country’s symbols.

In practice, no Russians or Belarusians participate in almost any sport, with the most notable exception being the professional tennis circuit.

The IOC Executive held this Monday in Lausanne (Switzerland) the first of three days of meetingswhere he heard a “solid report” from the organizers of Paris 2024, the next Games on the list, with good news for them of the agreement reached with FIBA, the international basketball federation, to play in the group stage in Lille, 200 km from the capital.

This is “provisional approval”, specified the executive director of the IOC for the Olympic Games, Christophe Dubi, who indicated that, since the Pierre-Mauroy stadium is a sports pavilion, it requires technical conditioning that FIBA ​​​​​​​​pending to give its approval.final approval.

The final round of handball will be played on the same stage. Decisions like this that opt ​​for the use of existing facilities will allow the organizing committee to present a balanced budget next Monday to its board of directors, commented Dubi.

The executive director spoke of a “forensic work” of Paris 2024 “to find where to save and where to get new revenue.”

On the other hand, the speaker Mark Adams reported receiving a letter of resignation from Patrick HickeyIOC member for Ireland, “for reasons of health and on the advice of his doctors.”

Hickey, 77, has been an IOC member since 1995 but has suspended himself since he was embroiled in a 2016 scandal involving the alleged reselling of tickets to the Rio Games.