Anne Hidalgo wants Russian athletes to participate, but not in their national colors, in the Paris Olympics and Paralympics in 2024. “Athletes should not be deprived of their competition, but I think and I plead, like a large part of the sports movement, for there to be no delegation under the Russian banner”, explained on France 2 the mayor of the capital Thursday, January 26. She would rather see Russian athletes compete “under a neutral banner”as has already been done.
The file is politically sensitive: on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked Mr. Macron to ban the Russians from the next Olympics, in less than two years. But the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday drew a roadmap to reintegrate them into world sport. “No athlete should be banned from competition on the basis of their passport alone”reaffirmed in a statement the executive of the Olympic body after consulting representatives of athletes, international federations and national Olympic committees.
A series of behind-the-scenes maneuvers were initiated in the fall to bring Russians and Belarusians back into the fold of Olympism, excluded from most international competitions since the start of the war against Ukraine in February 2022.
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