The famous athlete and deputy supported the decision announced yesterday by Gutzeit and Bedny
Bronze medalist of the Olympic Games, and now – deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olga Saladukha spoke out about the previously officially announced decision Ukraine participate in Olympics 2024.
“Ukraine is going to the 2024 Olympics in Paris. This official decision puts an end to the discussion about the possibility of a boycott of the Olympic Games.”
“There were different opinions, different positions on this matter. Yes, we all really don’t like the participation of Russians and Belarusians in competitions, even in the status of neutrals. But the aggressor, not the victim, must pay for the crimes. Punishing ourselves would be counterproductive.”
“On the contrary, we need to give Ukrainian athletes the opportunity to prove themselves, win more awards, remind ourselves of ourselves as a powerful sports state, and actualize the topic of war in the consciousness of the international sports community. Every trophy at these Games will be extremely valuable, because Ukrainians have overcome many obstacles. Constant Russian attacks, destruction of sports infrastructure, losses among our athletes. Perhaps no country in the world has ever prepared for the Olympics under such conditions.”
“And yet we did it. We deserve sporting victories and awards. I thank every athlete and every coach who did not fold their arms and worked hard. I am confident that we will realize our potential. This will be a demonstration of our resilience, will to fight, desire for a just world.”
In January 2022, Saladukha officially ended her sports career. The Ukrainian is a bronze medalist at the London 2012 Olympics in the triple jump, world champion (2011), three-time European champion (2010, 2012, 2014), as well as European indoor champion (2013).
Let us remind you that yesterday, May 20, Ukraine officially approved its participation in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. This decision was announced at a meeting between the head of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Matvey Bedny and the President of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine Vadim Gutzeit with representatives of Ukrainian and foreign media.
Earlier, at the beginning of December 2023, the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to admit participants from Russia and Belarus in the status of “individual neutral athletes” to the 2024 Olympic Games. In response, Matvey Bedny called the IOC’s decision “irresponsible.” In turn, Vadim Gutzeit spoke about plans to assemble his own admission database regarding “neutral” athletes admitted to the 2024 Olympic Games.
For some time there was talk about a possible boycott of the 2024 Olympic Games by Ukraine, but this position was considered unconstructive back in the winter.
The other day, Gutzeit said that Ukrainian athletes will not be able to perform any actions reminiscent of the war in Ukraine during the 2024 Olympics. Earlier, he also reported that Ukraine had already obtained 73 licenses for the 2024 Olympics. The NOC President expects that the final number of trips for Ukrainians will increase by 30-40 percent.
The 2024 Summer Olympics will be held in France from July 26 to August 11. At the competitions, 329 sets of awards will be awarded in 32 sports.
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 Russian war against Ukraine has continued for the 818th 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.
