Published on :
Will there be Russian and Belarusian athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics? This Saturday, March 11, it was the British government who asked the sponsors to put pressure on the Olympic Committee to ban the participation of these athletes.
Coca-Cola, Samsung or Airbnb, all sponsors of the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 received a letter from UK Culture Minister Lucy Frazer. The minister is asking brands to “ pressure the IOC over the risk of sport being used for propaganda purposes by Moscow and Minsk ».
►Also read : Paris 2024 Olympics: the thorny question of Russian and Belarusian athletes
More concretely, it asks the sponsors to participate in the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes during the sporting event. The United Kingdom is positioned as a fervent defender of this exclusion while the Olympic Committee has not yet fully settled the question.
Position « too blurry » you CIO
At the end of January, the Committee had sketched out a roadmap for reintegrating athletes from Russia and Belarus on condition that they participate under a neutral flag and that they have “ not actively supported the war in Ukraine ».
Many countries consider too blurry » the position of the International Olympic Committee. About thirty States, including France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, asked for clarification a month ago. Ukraine, meanwhile, is still threatening to boycott the event if Russian and Belarusian athletes participate in the Games.
In the meantime, the international fencing federation decided on Friday to reinstate Russian and Belarusian fencers in the qualifying competitions for the Olympics. Fencing thus becomes the first sport to reintegrate athletes from Russia and Belarusa year after their exclusion due to the war in Ukraine.
►Read also : Olympics 2024: African Olympic Committees in favor of the integration of Russian athletes