“Perhaps, as predicted by Pierre de Coubertin, there will be competitions of athletes in the Olympics, but no countries” – Chen

World Athletics Champion Yolanda Chen on the air of the program “There is a theme!” on said that, perhaps, competitions of athletes, but not countries, will take place at the Paris Olympics.

On Thursday, World Athletics Association (World Athletics) President Sebastian Coe said athletes from Russia and Belarus were unlikely to compete in the 2024 Olympics. Coe noted that the board of directors of World Athletics did not plan to reconsider the position regarding the admission of athletes from these countries to the competition.

– Coe won the Moscow Olympics, came to Moscow under a white flag. He got a “sir” for it. He has rested on his laurels all these years. If you are a principled Russophobe, refuse the medal. He came to see us at the Athletics Federation conference, drank and ate. He swore eternal love and friendship. And then he went back to England and said there would be no Russians at any competition. Our IT people would like to launch a viral video with his victories in Moscow.

At the last World Championships in Athletics in Eugene, athletes put on their own medals. They left quickly. This was due to covid restrictions. But the pandemic is long gone.

In Hungary, during the World Cup, it is now forbidden for journalists from all countries to present themselves at press conferences with T-shirts in the colors of their flag. And in Budapest there are no awards, podiums, anthems and flags. Girls only give medals to athletes. Maybe this story will repeat itself at the Olympics. Maybe there won’t be any flags, but we can probably forget the white flags for now. Perhaps at the Olympics, as planned by Pierre de Coubertin, there will be competitions of athletes, but not of countries. We have to participate in the Olympics, we have to show that we are, we have achievements.

At Russian competitions, raising our flag energizes and motivates athletes,” Chen said on .

The Summer Olympics will take place in Paris from July 26 to August 11, 2024.