The IOC believes that the participation of Russian athletes in the Olympics does not contradict the UN call for peace in Ukraine, reports The Independent. As noted in the International Olympic Committee, athletes of any country should not be discriminated in any way.
The International Olympic Committee believes that studying the possibility of Russian athletes participating under a neutral flag in next year’s Olympics is consistent with the desire of the United Nations for peace in Ukraine, reports The Independent.
In a statement released Friday, the IOC said it supports a UN resolution in which the organization called on member states and international bodies to “redouble diplomatic efforts to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.
IOC President Thomas Bach has previously referred to the December UN resolution when explaining why his organization, national Olympic committees and international sports federations are considering allowing Russian athletes to qualify for the 2024 Games in Paris.
In the December resolution, the UN states that “major international sporting events should be organized in a spirit of peace, mutual understanding and international cooperation, friendship and tolerance, without discrimination of any kind. The organization also said that the unifying and conciliatory nature of such events should be respected.
The IOC criticizes the governments for interfering in this matter and states that athletes of any country must not be discriminated.
As the newspaper recalls, on Monday, a group of more than 30 countries, including Britain, the United States and France, issued a collective statement urging the IOC to maintain the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes. Although they agreed that it was wrong to discriminate against athletes based on their nationality alone, they pointed to the difficulty in maintaining neutrality for Russian athletes financed by Moscow.
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