Olympics Open Path for Russians to Qualify for Paris 2024

The Olympic committee’s recommendations stopped short of endorsing that position, which was met by fury by a Ukrainian athlete representative when Xanthaki made her suggestion on a call with Olympic representatives and in social media posts. Instead, the organization said active military personnel should continue to be barred from international sports, a prohibition that it also recommended for any individuals that had actively promoted Russia’s cause. It also endorsed the continued ban of Russian and Belarusian symbols, including uniforms, flags and anthems.

Dozens of Russian athletes are part of the country’s military or have been trained by it. Others have been conscripted to its cause since the start of the invasion. And according to a review by The Associated Press, the country’s Olympic success is inextricably linked to its military: Of the 71 medals won by Russian athletes at the last Summer Olympics, in Tokyo in 2021, 45 were collected by athletes affiliated with the Central Sports Club of the Army.

Still, Bach made a point of reading out a portion of the U.N. rapporteur’s advice calling for the inclusion of athletes at the Olympics from all countries regardless of their nationalities. “This clear statement cannot be neglected by the Olympic movement,” he said.

Under Bach’s tenure, the I.O.C. faced criticism for its attitude toward Russia even before the war, with scrutiny over its decision to allow neutrals to participate in the Olympics after the discovery of a huge, state-sanctioned Russian doping program, which corrupted several international events, and then a second attempt by the country to block investigators from discovering how many Russian athletes had been a part of the program.

After Bach was reminded on Tuesday that the first person to call to congratulate him after he was elected to lead the I.O.C. in 2013 was Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, he said Putin was quickly stripped of the Olympic Order after Russia mounted its invasion. “We have been accused by the Russian side of being agents of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian side as promoters of war,” he said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/28/sports/olympics/ioc-russia-belarus-paris-olympics.html