Stanislav Pozdnyakov, President of the Russian Olympic Committee, reacted to the characterization of the upcoming Friendship Games by Thomas Bach, Head of the International Olympic Committee, who called the competitions to be held in Moscow in September 2024 politicized competitions.
“I absolutely disagree with this wording. The fact is that from our point of view it is politicised to decide not to allow Russian athletes to compete, so when we are not invited to international competitions for whatever reason, we find opportunities for ourselves to hold tournaments – in the interests of our athletes, first and foremost.
Our athletes need to get competitive practice, an opportunity to achieve good results and, in accordance with that, to get the fees. Of course, there is no policy,” said the four-time Olympic champion in an interview with RIA Novosti.
At the same time Stanislav Pozdnyakov noted the spirit of Russian athletes:
“These are difficult times, but the way we rejoice in our victories, the way we keep our spirits up when we are banned from competing, how despite this our big Olympic family has been held – this is the achievement of the last year. Reason will prevail over the heads of those people who forbid a person to develop physically and mentally. We will remain a big and strong Olympic family.”
We shall remind you that at the end of February 2022, due to the events in Ukraine, the IOC recommended that the sports federations suspend the Russians from international tournaments.
In March 2023, the International Olympic Committee proposed that Russian athletes be allowed to start in neutral status if they meet certain conditions.
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