Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has once again implored the International Olympic Committee (IOC) not to allow Russia to compete in the Olympic Games.
“It is obvious that any neutral flag of Russian athletes is stained with blood. I invite Mr. Bach to Bakhmut,” Zelenskyy said in a video message on Twitter, referring to the war-torn eastern Ukrainian town. “So he could see with his own eyes that neutrality doesn’t exist.”
“One cannot help but be disappointed by the statements of the current president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach. I spoke to him several times,” he said in a speech on Friday. “And I’ve never heard how you’re going to protect sports from war propaganda if you bring Russian athletes back to international competitions.”
THE IOC OPENS THE WAY FOR RUSSIAN ATHLETES TO COMPETE UNDER ASIA IN THE NEXT OLYMPIC GAMES
Despite Zelenskyy’s calls to exclude Russia from next year’s Summer Olympics, the IOC said on Wednesday that it aimed to pursue a path for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as “neutral athletes” that would “in no way way they represent their state or any other organization in their country. .”
“No athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport,” IOC president Thomas Bach said Wednesday.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky gestures as he speaks during a joint news conference with his Finnish counterpart following their talks in Kyiv, January 24, 2023, amid Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.
(Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)
The Olympic rings at the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
(Laurent Gillierion/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The IOC noted that its recommendation mirrors a similar decision from 1992, when it allowed athletes from the former Yugoslavia, which was facing United Nations sanctions, to participate as independent Olympic participants in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Yugoslavia did not participate in sports team like soccer and basketball.
In sports, such as tennis, athletes from Belarus and Russia already compete. On Saturday, Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus won the Australian Open.
However, Zelenskyy criticized the IOC decision as “attempts to bring representatives of the terrorist state into world sports.”
RUSSIAN OFFICIALS PLEASE ‘NO-BLAME’ FOR FIGURE SKATER KAMILA VALIEVA IN DOPING INVESTIGATION
On Saturday, Zelenskyy published a series of scathing images of Ukraine’s war-torn sports facilities.
“Olympic principles and war are fundamentally opposed.” wrote the president of the war-torn country in a Saturday morning post. “Russia must stop the aggression and terror, and only after that it will be possible to talk about Russian participation in the Olympic movement.”
“If we are not heard, I do not rule out the possibility that we will boycott and refuse to participate in the Olympic Games,” Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Guttsait wrote on his Facebook account on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov said in a statement Wednesday that the IOC’s statement was “the voice of common sense.”
Zelenskyy has shared that he told French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country will host the upcoming Summer Olympics, that Russia “should not take place” there.
The Russian and Belarusian flags fly during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Victory Monument.
(Ramil NasibulinTASS via Getty Images)
Last February, the IOC recommended “with great regret” that sports bodies exclude Russia and Belarus from hosting and competing “in order to protect the integrity of world sporting competitions and the safety of all participants.”
“However, the current war in Ukraine puts the Olympic Movement in a dilemma.” the IOC wrote in a press release. “While athletes from Russia and Belarus could continue to participate in sporting events, many athletes from Ukraine are unable to do so due to the attack on their country.”
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FIFA and World Curling were the first international sports federations under the Olympic umbrella to take action after the IOC announcement. FIFA and UEFA said Russian club and national teams are suspended from their soccer competitions until further notice.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
