A bold statement from a legendary boxer
Legendary Ukrainian boxer, former world heavyweight champion Vladimir Klichko commented in a harsh manner on the holding of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
“These Olympic Games are causing an Olympic disgrace: the presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes who trample on the principles of the IOC. Where is the backbone of the IOC when it comes to enforcing their own “principles of participation”?
“They deliberately ignored a large body of evidence from international human rights lawyers that 10 of the 15 Russian athletes clearly violated the rules of neutrality and communicatively supported the war of terror against Ukraine. The evidence for this is collected by Global Rights Compliance.”
Recall that an installation was opened in Parliament Square in London in honor of the 487 Ukrainian athletes (as of July 2024) killed as a result of the Russian invasion. The stand features sports props representing the sports of the deceased athletes.
Among others, the following were killed in the war with Russia: multiple Ukrainian cycling champion Andriy Kutsenko, fencer Rostislav Livach, Ukrainian track and field champion Roman Gavrilyuk, two-time European weightlifting champion Oleksandr Peleshenko, master of sports in boxing Oleksandr Cherny, futsal player Oleksandr Tikhonets, and footballer and former player of a number of UPL clubs, Serhiy Rozhok.
In the early morning hours of February 24, 2022, Russia launched a missile attack and aerial bombardment on most Ukrainian cities, and then launched a full-scale military invasion. The war against Russia is now in its 889th day.
The 2024 Summer Olympics will end on August 11. The competitions will feature 329 sets of awards in 32 sports. Ukraine will be represented in Paris by 140 athletes in 23 sports – this is the smallest representation of the blue and yellow during the Olympics.
The Ukrainian team has won one medal so far and shares 35th place with Croatia, Egypt, Spain, Hungary, Guatemala, Switzerland, Slovakia and Tajikistan. Olga Harlan won a bronze medal in sabre fencing.
These Olympic Games are causing an Olympic shame: the presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes who are trampling underfoot the principles of the IOC.Where is the backbone of #IOCwhen does it come to enforcing their own “principles of participation”?
They have knowingly ignored… pic.twitter.com/X04FvuvUQd
— Klitschko (@Klitschko) July 30, 2024
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.
