Berlin, March 29, (dpa/GNA) – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decision to propose a return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international sports events, has been met by criticism from Ukraine, other countries and federations, and from Russia itself.
Olympic boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko of Ukraine said that IOC president Thomas Bach, “serves the colours and interests of Russia” as he condemned the decision along with politicians from countries including Germany, Poland and Lithuania.
World Athletics said it would not lift its ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes, the gymnastics body FIG said its ban would remain in place for the time being, and European Games organizers in Poland also said that no athletes from the two countries would compete.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the conditions tied to a return included “elements of discrimination” as he and other Russian officials want a full return.
The IOC had on Tuesday proposed to sports federations to allow Russians and Belarusians back as neutral athletes, and under strict criteria, such as not actively supporting the invasion of Ukraine and not training as clubs with links to security and armed forces.
The IOC has also excluded team sports from the proposal and said it would make a decision on their participation at next year’s Paris Olympics at a later stage.
This is a softening the original recommended ban by the IOC which was taken over by most sports federations in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’ role in it.
Klitschko, a 1996 gold medallist and former heavyweight world champion, named the IOC decision “a false flag.
“Thomas Bach serves the colours and interests of Russia,” he said.
This decision contaminates the Olympic spirit and is like this war: a nonsense.”
Ukraine’s Olympic chief, Vadim Gutzeit, said on Facebook they will continue to make efforts that “no z-patriot gets into the international sports arenas,” referring to the letter z which is used in Russia in support of the war.
World Athletics and the European Games confirmed that Russians and Belarusians would not be admitted to their events.
“There is no change to World Athletics’ position, as outlined after our Council meeting last week. As the IOC said yesterday, it is the responsibility of the respective international federations to decide on this,” a World Athletics statement said.
Organizers of the European Games set for June and July in Krakow also said that the decision from October to ban them “remains unchanged” after Tuesday’s IOC proposal.
The FIG also said its ban remains in effect for now and that its executive committee would look into the IOC recommendation at its next meeting, for which a date is yet to be set.
In Russia, Peskov was quoted by state news agency TASS as saying that “we will continue defending the interests of our athletes in every way we can,” which includes ongoing talks with the IOC.
Peskov said “these recommendations have been characterized as having elements of discrimination, which is unacceptable.”
Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin, in a statement on the ministry’s Telegram channel, named the IOC decision “arbitrary, and its separate decision regarding team sports in openly discriminative.”
Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) president Stanislav Pozdnyakov said, according to TASS, that the IOC “parameters announced are absolutely unacceptable,” the neutral status “a violation of human rights,” and “the proposed conditions unreasonable, legally unsound and excessive.”
GNA