International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach declared on Wednesday that the committee was against “politicising sport” in response to Moscow’s criticism of Olympic restrictions on Russian athletes.
A day earlier, the IOC banned Russian athletes from participating in the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, scheduled for July 26, and criticised Moscow for planning to hold its own Friendship Games as an alternative to the Olympic Games.
[There are] more quotes coming from Russia that are extremely aggressive and […] some of them are very personal.
Last year, the IOC suspended Russia from the 2024 Games, but gave the green light for its athletes to compete as neutral players provided they did not actively support Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
The IOC revealed that the first Summer Friendship Games, announced a few months ago, were “planned to be held in Moscow and Yekaterinburg” next September, while the first Winter Games would take place in 2026 in Sochi, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin warned the IOC against imposing sanctions on athletes, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating:
This is intimidation of the athletes. It completely undermines the credibility of the IOC.
Tensions between Moscow and the Olympic organisation have already been rising for years over a protracted doping scandal that has seen Russians banned from competing under their flag at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
On 20 March, Europe’s highest human rights body called for the full suspension of Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Olympic Games in Paris. Council of Europe President Theodoros Rousopoulos stated that it would be “an insult to Ukrainian athletes” if athletes from the two countries were allowed to participate.
Over the past year, restrictions have been relaxed in a number of Olympic sports, allowing athletes from both countries to return to competition under certain conditions. Athletes from Russia and Belarus will compete in Paris as “Individual Neutral Athletes.” However, competitors from both countries are still banned from athletics.
