Former undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk has criticized the International Olympic Committee's decision to temporarily lift the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee, according to The Athletic.
The Ukrainian boxer said people who support Russian aggression against Ukraine should not be allowed to represent their country at the Olympic Games.
Usyk said that if a person supports the war, they have no place at the Olympics. He said no one knows what such a person did during the war, and that they could even be connected to the killing of a Ukrainian grandmother, calling it unacceptable that such people then go on to represent their country at the Games.
Usyk on world sport and aggression
Usyk said those who support aggression should not be part of world sport, adding that it cannot be right for someone to bomb Ukraine one day and compete calmly at the Olympics the next.
The comments came after the IOC's decision on the Russian Olympic Committee, following which federations in several sports readmitted Russia to world competitions, including weightlifting, where all restrictions on Russian athletes were fully lifted. A similar decision was made in gymnastics.
