the Olympic world is pushing to admit Russians and Belarusians under a neutral banner – Libération

2023-12-06 13:52:11

Gathered in Lausanne as part of the Olympic Summit, the international federations and national Olympic committees asked the IOC “to declare “neutral individual athletes” eligible for the Paris Games.

This is a very big step in favor of the presence of Russians and Belarusians in Paris which has just been taken. Tuesday evening, at the end of the Olympic Summit – an annual meeting behind closed doors in Lausanne, which establishes the majority positions within the Olympic world – the international federations and national committees demanded admission “as soon as possible possible” of athletes from these two countries for the 2024 Olympics under a neutral banner.

The message sent via the final communiqué is clear: the “representatives of the international summer sports federations”, supported by those of the 209 national Olympic organizations, “asked the IOC to declare eligible” for the Paris Games “neutral individual athletes who have qualified or will qualify” for the event.

The formula obviously includes the Russians and Belarusians, first excluded from world sport following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, then readmitted under a neutral banner and under conditions from March 2023, without their possible presence at the 2024 Olympic Games is then decided.

“Don’t punish” athletes

The representatives of the international federations “also requested a decision as soon as possible, to bring clarity to their Olympic qualification procedures and for all the athletes concerned,” the press release continued.

The text does not specify whether this is a unanimous position, while international sporting bodies have reinstated the Russians and Belarusians in their competitions in dispersed order, and the international athletics federation – a major Olympic discipline – is still refuses to do it.

But this recommendation received the approval of the president of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, the Finnish Emma Terho, who specified that “overall, the vast majority of athletes are of the opinion that athletes should not be punished for actions of their governments.

This formula is exactly the same as that of the IOC when it recommended the return of the banished under a neutral banner. But the body then explained that their possible presence at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which open on July 26, would be decided “at the appropriate time”, according to criteria never specified since. But time is running out, believes Emma Terho, for whom “clarity on [cette] question would be appreciated by the athletes, because the Paris Olympic Games are fast approaching.

January or March?

For its part, the Olympic body limited itself on Tuesday to “confirming that the participation of such neutral individual athletes in the Olympic Games could only occur under the strict conditions” set in March: without an anthem or flag, excluding Olympic sports. team, and on condition of not having actively supported the conflict in Ukraine. “Neither the qualification system [pour les Jeux de Paris] developed by the international federations nor the number of places allocated to a sport will be modified for neutral athletes holding a Russian or Belarusian passport,” continued the IOC.

Clearly, athletes who missed opportunities to qualify because the federations concerned were slow to reinstate them – such as in swimming or climbing, while awaiting a final decision from athletics – will not have any possibility of catching up.

The Olympic body, which met last week in Paris without addressing the question of the Russians and Belarusians, did not specify when it would decide. But its executive committee meets again on January 18, then from March 19 to 21.