The representatives of the IOC, in favor of the Russians and Belarusians to be in Paris 2024

representatives of International Olympic Committee (IOC) and members of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) expressed this Tuesday their deep differences in participation, under a neutral flag, of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Olympic Games. and Paris 2024 Paralympics.

This tense debate, held at PACE in Strasbourg, occurs when the IOC has not yet adopted an official decision on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in Paris 2024, although it has shown its itself in favor of restoring them, under a neutral flag and other conditions, to previous international competitions.

the Namibian Gaby Ahrensformer Olympic fencer, and the Armenian Arsen Julfalakyana Greco-Roman wrestler who won a silver medal at London 2012, spoke as representatives of athletes from organizations linked to the IOC.

Both defended the reinstatement of Russian and Belarusian athletes because “no athlete has to pay the piper for their governments.”

“Unfortunately in Africa, we are used to conflicts, both outside and within countries. Athletes should not pay such a price,” said Ahrens, a participant in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Games and current president of the athletes’ commission of the Association of African National Olympic Committees (ANOCA).

A similar argument was used by Julfalakyan, who recalled the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan to argue that he knew what a country at war was.

“We feel it every day,” added the president of the athletes’ commission of the World Wrestling Union, who remembered the thousands of Armenian victims in 2020 in the territory of Nagorno Karabakh, which is disputed by Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Despite this, the former athlete asked that sport “do not function as an instrument of punishment” and recalled that there are other recent wars such as in Afghanistan or Iraq where no fighting country is exempt.

DISCERNING BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS AND THE STATE

Other participants in the debate, the Italian Francesco Ricci Bittipresident of the Association of International Summer Federations (ASOIF), and the UN rapporteur for cultural rights, Alexandra Xanthakigave their support to the presence of Russians and Belarusians in Paris 2024.

“The action of a State cannot be confused with the action of an individual”confirmed Xanthaki, who argued that banning the participation of athletes because of their nationality “undermines peace more than it promotes it.”

In their turn to speak, PACE representatives from countries such as the United Kingdom, Romania, Estonia and Norway opposed the presence of the Russians and Belarusians and considered that the credibility of the IOC was at stake if they accepted to be included they are the competition. .

Visibly angry at some of the arguments heard, two Ukrainian PACE members sat on the floor. Oleksiy Gontcharenko, most emphatically, said he had no problem with Russia and Belarus participating as long as their athletes publicly denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Otherwise, they support the war and the rapes that are being committed” in Ukraine, Gontcharenko said. His colleague Yevheniya Kravchuk was disturbed by the position of the UN rapporteur Xanthaki and insisted that “throwing will not be tolerated in sport.”