Russia 2024 in Paris?: Ukraine is considering an Olympic boycott

The IOC wants to allow Russian athletes back to international competitions, including the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Russia 2024 in Paris?: Ukraine is considering an Olympic boycott

The IOC wants to allow Russian athletes back to international competitions, including the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The idea is not only surprising in Ukraine. The country invaded by the Kremlin is considering not taking part in the major event.

For the International Olympic Committee, the intended return of Russian athletes to international competitions and the 2024 Summer Games in Paris is an explosive and risky mission. As early as Friday, the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine wants to discuss a possible boycott of the Paris Games at an extraordinary general assembly as a reaction to the project. The games in Moscow in 1980 and in Los Angeles in 1984 were last affected by boycotts - as a result of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan.

"The Olympic principles and war are fundamentally opposed to each other," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. He published a series of photos on social networks of sports facilities in Ukraine that had been destroyed by the war. "Russia must stop aggression and terror, and only then will it be possible to talk about Russia's participation in the context of the Olympic movement." Zelenskyj invited the German IOC President Thomas Bach to the currently particularly hard-fought eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut to get an idea of ​​the destruction. "So that he can see with his own eyes that neutrality does not exist."

Ukrainian athletes today have to save the lives of their loved ones from Russian aggression. Many Ukrainians were killed by Russian attacks. Despite the sharp criticism - not only from the Ukraine - Bach defended the project. "These considerations are supported - worldwide, by a huge majority," he told ZDF. There is a commitment to the Olympic Games' mission to unite, "maintain the last bridge" between countries and "not encourage another division," said the 69-year-old 1976 Olympic fencing champion.

According to Bach, two special rapporteurs from the UN Human Rights Council have expressed concerns about the further exclusion of Russians and Belarusians. "It's about people enjoying human rights according to these two rapporteurs," he said. An exclusion "because of a passport or place of birth" violates the ban on discrimination. Under his leadership, the IOC has repeatedly made it possible for the Russian athletes to return to the Olympics - without a flag and anthem - with similar arguments. After the doping scandal at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, the country was excluded from the subsequent four games. Russia's Olympic ban for manipulating doping data in the Moscow laboratory expired on December 16, 2022. This admission of Russian athletes had already divided the Olympic world.

What will happen if the Ukraine war continues until the Paris Games open on July 26, 2024? The interest group Athletes Germany gave a clear answer: "With this war, Russia is violating the norms of international law of the international community as well as fundamental values ​​of the Olympic movement. Excluding Russia from world sport is and will therefore remain logical."

The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), on the other hand, "fully supports the unifying mission of the Olympic movement," which must be "fulfilled particularly in these times of division, confrontation and war," according to an ANOC statement. It should be examined how a way could be found for Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to competition under strict conditions. However, the association of the 32 summer sports did not hide: "We are aware that it is a delicate matter."

As expected, Bach's statements were welcomed in Russia - but also viewed with great skepticism. "This is very good news," said figure skating legend Tatyana Tarasova. "Bach's words are very important for our sport. He's finally started to think properly." Earlier, the vice-president of the Russian NOC, Igor Levitin, said: "The Olympic movement has recognized that the Olympic Games cannot take place without Russia's participation."