The Executive Committee of the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) has approved the procedure for returning athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports to international competitions from 2024, reported on the organization’s website .
Athletes from both countries will be required to obtain neutral licenses as a prerequisite to compete in IFSC-sponsored events from next year.
The board’s decision was based on the task force’s recommendations, presented on June 7, which were developed after a month of consultations with the IFSC Athletes’ Commission and a wide range of stakeholders, including representatives from the IOC, major competition organizers, anti-doping organizations, investigative authorities, as well as the Mountaineering and Climbing Federation of Ukraine.
— The decision to start the process of reintegrating athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports was not easy. I have no hesitation in saying that the IFSC strongly condemns the conflict in Ukraine. At the same time, we take into account the mission of sport and the politicization of athletes. We believe in the values of Olympism and inclusion, but we listen to pressure from many governments. We also know that, unfortunately, a hundred armed conflicts are raging in the world.
Therefore, we have tried to find a balance between the different positions and create a system that can be applied fairly in the future also for disputes in different areas,” said IFSC chief Marco Skolaris.
Source : MatchTV
I’m John White and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. My specialty is covering sports news, which I’ve been doing for over 6 years now. During this time, I have worked as an author with Athletistic, a popular online news website focusing on sports topics.
