The International Olympic Committee The (IOC) believes that Ukraine’s athletes will suffer the most if their leaders decide to boycott the Olympic qualifying event. in which Russian athletes participated, as they announced.
“If implemented, such a decision will only harm the sports community in Ukraine and will not affect the war that the world wants to stop and that the IOC strongly condemns,” the agency said in a statement on Saturday.
“The IOC has always maintained that it is not for governments to decide which athletes can participate. in which international competitions”, he added.
The body recalled that the Ukrainian Tennis Federation is in favor of keeping its athletes in the competition and he also repeated his usual reference to the other 70 conflicts or wars that exist in the world without banning their athletes from competitions.
The IOC Executive agreed last Tuesday to recommend to federations the entry of Russians and Belarusians into their competitions -excluded since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022-, but only from individuals, not from teams, under a neutral flag, if they have never shown favor to war and if they do not belong to army or security agencies.
The Ukrainian government immediately reacted by announcing that it would boycott competitions involving Russians.
The IOC also referred to the meeting held on Friday in Madrid by the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), which brings together 206 in the world, stating that “any government call for a boycott represents a direct interference in the autonomy of sport. and constitutes a clear politicization of sport”.
“This will only contribute to the isolation of National Olympic Committees (NOCs) from the world sports community and directly affect the dreams and aspirations of athletesANOC said.
Source: La Verdad
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