Russia said “scandalized” by the decisions of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Wednesday March 20. The day before, the IOC decided to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes participating in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games from the opening ceremony; a new restriction imposed due to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“The IOC’s decisions are illegal, unjust and unacceptable. We are outraged by the unprecedented discriminatory conditions imposed by the International Olympic Committee on Russian athletes”declared Russian diplomatic spokesperson Maria Zakharova at a press briefing.
Russian diplomacy also accused the IOC of “neo-Nazism” for the criticisms he made the day before against the “Friendship games” competition competing with the Olympics that Russia wants to create in response to the multiple sanctions targeting it. “These decisions demonstrate the extent to which the IOC has strayed from its stated principles and descended into racism and neo-Nazism”said Mme Zakharova.
“This goes beyond anything that is acceptable”said Mark Adams, the spokesperson for the IOC president, the German Thomas Bach, to the press. “By linking the president, his nationality and the Holocaust [le gouvernement russe] falls even lower. That’s all we have to say.”, he decided. Questioned about a series of Russian statements in the morning, Thomas Bach preferred to let Mark Adams respond due to the character “extremely aggressive” And “also very personal” of some of these accusations.
The Kremlin, for its part, denounced a desire to intimidate athletes who would like to participate in this parallel competition. “It’s athlete intimidation. And this completely undermines the authority of the IOC”judged Dmitri Peskov, spokesperson for the Kremlin, to journalists. “This destroys the idea of Olympism, and harms the interests of Olympic athletes”, he added. The IOC – which authorized the participation of Russian athletes in the Paris Olympics only under a neutral banner and on the condition that they did not support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – accused Russia on Tuesday of “politicize sport” with the organization of this competition.
He had asked the world of sport and the governments invited by Moscow “to reject any participation and support” to this new competition, which also plans a winter edition.