The President of Ukraine opposed the participation of athletes from aggressor countries at the Games
President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky criticized the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to Olympics 2024 in Paris in the status of “neutral athletes”.
“Of course, we would not want murderers or certain athletes representing a terrorist organization called Russia to represent it in France at the Olympics. We would like France to be completely on the side of justice in this humanitarian aspect, in this case on our side.”
“I don’t think that if there is no Russian flag, but there is a white one, we are all not idiots, everyone in the stands, at all the venues in the world will understand: the one with the white flag, who is he? He is Russian. Russians at the Olympics can be represented under a white flag – what difference does it make whether it is white or a tricolor.”
Let us recall that at the beginning of December 2023, the IOC Executive Committee decided to admit participants from Russia and Belarus in the status of “individual neutral athletes” to the 2024 Olympic Games. The IPC later published regulations for the participation of neutral Paralympic athletes at the Paris Paralympic Games.
Acting Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Matvey Bedny called the above-mentioned IOC decision “irresponsible.” Later, the head of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine, Vadim Gutzeit, spoke about plans to assemble his own admission database regarding “neutral” athletes admitted to the 2024 Olympic Games.
Early in the morning of February 24, 2022, Russia fired rockets and aerial bombardment of most Ukrainian cities, and then launched a full-scale military invasion. The war against Russia has continued for the 748th day.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
