Athletistic / Olympic Games. Former head coach of the Russian national football team Valery Gazzaev spoke about the participation of Russian athletes in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris (France) in neutral status.
“I feel sorry for the athletes who for many years have been exhausting themselves daily in training and then, due to political circumstances, do not have the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Games. Abdulrashid Sadulayev, a two-time Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling. could go to the Games and become a three-time Olympic champion at the age of 27, but for non-sporting reasons he will not participate in the Olympic tournament. The IOC simply banned him from participating in the Games… What. does this mean that participation in the Olympic Games is not determined by sport, but only by political principles.
I am sorry that Russian athletes are suffering. Each athlete makes his own decision whether to go to the Olympics or not in the current circumstances. But each athlete has his own personal responsibility. Personally, I believe that participating in the Olympics as a neutral is a mistake and humiliation. By doing this, the athlete depersonalizes himself and his country and puts himself in a losing position in advance. However, I want to emphasize that I do not condemn Russian athletes who nevertheless decided to participate in the 2024 Olympics – this is a personal matter and personal responsibility of the athlete. The IOC has long ceased to be a sports organization, but has become a political organization,” Gazzaev said, as quoted by Metaratings.ru.
On 8 December 2023, the IOC authorised athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in the 2024 Olympic Games with neutral individual status and subject to the fulfilment of a number of conditions and criteria. It should be noted that athletes from Russia and Belarus can only participate in the Paris Games in individual disciplines, while team sports competitions will take place without the participation of these countries.
The 2024 Summer Olympics will be held in Paris from July 26 to August 11, 2024.
Source: Sport
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