The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Thursday (13) that it was faced with “irreconcilable positions” from Russia and Ukraine regarding the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in next year’s Paris Olympics. The IOC in March issued a first set of recommendations for international sports federations to allow the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes since they were banned following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year. In an updated version of those recommendations published on Thursday, the IOC said: “We are still faced with two irreconcilable positions. The Russian side wants the IOC to ignore the war. The Ukrainian side wants the IOC to fully isolate anyone with Russian and Belarusian passport.” Although the IOC has said that the Russian and Belarusian Olympic committees will not receive an official invitation to the Paris Games like other countries later this month, a decision on their participation will be taken at a later date. “The IOC will make this decision at an appropriate time, at its full discretion and without being bound by the results of previous Olympic qualifying competitions,” he said. Athletes from Russia and Belarus were allowed to compete as neutrals at the Hangzhou Asian Games to help them earn points to qualify for the Paris Olympics. The IOC said it was deplorable that some European governments had shown “negative reactions” to its position on the participation of Russia and Belarus. “We have not seen a single comment from them regarding the participation of athletes whose countries are involved in another 70 wars, armed conflicts and crises in the world”, he stated. He also said he regretted that Ukrainian athletes were pulled out of the world judo and taekwondo championships due to the participation of Russians and Belarusians. * Reproduction of this content is prohibited.
Agência Brasil
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