Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his sports ministry and the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) to offer recommendations on whether or not Russian athletes should compete at this summer’s Paris Olympics.
Putin has reportedly asked the ministry and ROC to begin looking into the regulations of specific sporting organizations to see what is possible in terms of both qualifying and competing at the Games, with an ultimate decision to come on if they’ll send athletes or not.
“The President instructed the Ministry of Sports and the ROC to make proposals for the participation of our athletes in the Olympics in Paris,” Putin’s assistant, Igor Levitin, told a Moscow forum, according to The Sports Examiner (TSX)‘s Rich Perelman.
“Since qualifying competitions are already underway, it is necessary to decide for each federation on what conditions they will participate in the Games and what declarations will be required for them with from international sports organizations so that we can make a decision on the participation of our athletes.”
Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin said the sanctions being posed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regarding the access Russian athletes will be granted at the Games are far too strict, likely indicating the government won’t send anyone to Paris.
“One of the key objectives of sport is humanitarian. In this regard, the actions of the International Olympic Committee and some federations to restrict the access of our athletes look categorically unacceptable,” said Matytsin, according to TSX. “This is a direct violation of the Olympic Charter. Requirements to sign declarations are unacceptable.”
“The key will be respect for the interests of our athletes, coaches and compliance with the Olympic Charter. We have repeatedly said that the demands of some federations to sign a declaration are unacceptable for our athletes. We await the final decisions and recommendations of the IOC on the participation of our athletes. And we will make the appropriate decision together with the Russian Olympic Committee and the sports community.”
Perelman noted in TSX that a lot of what is being said by the Russians parallels what we saw in 1984, when the Soviets boycotted the Games in Los Angeles.
Additionally, Russia’s state-sponsored news agency TASS has started presenting the Paris Games in a negative light and questioning whether or not it will even take place.
The IOC has been steadfast in its position of only allowing Russians to compete as individual, neutral athletes at the Games.
The entry deadline for the Olympics is July 8.
facile and false comparison – the causes and situations are entirely different.
Counterpoint: get bent Putin.
Putin to IOC: “You’re not breaking up with me, I’m breaking up with you!” You crack me up, Vlad.
Either be political and demand a binding Olympic Truce (whichever country doesn’t sign or abide by it, doesn’t get to compete) or be non-political and let everyone compete.
At this point and in the light of all this suffering (regardless of which side of whatever conflict you’re on), is this really worth being another battlefield on which to fight these wars?
#LetChikunovaSwim
It’s not right to use apartheid in a sense where you clearly have no idea where it fits in context. First, find out what apartheid actually means, and second, go see if you can find exactly where those characteristics are showed in Israel. Again, I do not support Israel or Palestine in particular, but this modern conflict is dangerously filled with misusage of verbiage and buzzwords.
ICJ, Amnesty International and even South African government who know a thing or two about an apartheid all labeled Israel an apartheid state.
The South African government definitely knows what apertheid is.
I think there’s a stronger parallel between Russia and Hamas than between Russia and Israel. Hamas, which is the governing party in Gaza, invaded Israel and killed thousands of civilians and took hundreds of hostages, so they started the conflict. The current conflict would end immediately if the hostages were freed. So I don’t agree that there’s a “double standard”.
Clarifying the record: there are a few different numbers around about how many Israeli civilians were killed by Hamas, but every number I have found agrees that it was less than 1000. So “killed thousands of civilians” is not accurate.
The “hundreds of hostages” is accurate – Israeli said that 253 hostages were taken by Hamas on October 7.
Also Israel have killed more innocent civilians than Russia .
Read this article give insight on what is going on in Gaza.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-02-16/rafah-gaza-hospitals-surgery-israel-bombing-ground-offensive-children
Hamas (sponsored by Iran and allied with fascist Russia) are responsible for every single death in Gaza.
Or you mean Israel which help fund and found Hamas?
I meant to say over a thousand. The correct number is around 1200, I think. There’s some question as to whether some of those killed were civilians or soldiers because they were reservists or were home visiting from their military service.
Netanyahu has literally said the conflict will not end if the hostages are freed. Israel have been given numerous reasonable offers to free the hostages in exchange for a ceasefire and they are refusing because they don’t want to stop killing. It was never about the hostages. Israel has been looking for an excuse to eradicate Palestine for decades and now they have one, but the vast majority of the world sees right through it.
When you are referring to what Netanyahu said make sure to refer to EVERYTHING he says and don’t cut important details. He doesn’t want the war to be over when the hostages are free – he wants the war to be over when Hamas is gone. Look up the civilians-military dead ratio of any war before you call out to ban countries. Why not ban the US? Look what they did in Afghanistan and Iraq. How is that any different? Just because the Palestinians make themselves look miserable on the media, makes it a better reason to support them? Go search for 9/11 celebrations in Gaza, or any suicide bombing or stabbing attack in Israel – watch closely how many… Read more »
The children are innocent in any case.
Yes, and Israeli children are also innocent, but Hamas started this whole thing. Just like Russia started the invasion of Ukraine.
Lol, invading Israel and killing, raping, and murdering hundreds of civilians was an “excuse”. That’s twisted logic. And no, Hamas have not offered to free all of the hostages.
Accountable for retaliation after 1500 of their citizens were slaughtered?