NewsWorldRussia considers calls to exclude its athletes from the Olympics 'unacceptable'

Russia considers calls to exclude its athletes from the Olympics ‘unacceptable’

Oleg Matytsin, Minister of Sports, against the measure on Russian athletes ahead of Paris 2024. Photo: AFP:

Russia described on Saturday as “absolutely unacceptable” and an attempt to “destroy the unity of international sport” the calls to exclude its athletes from the 2024 Olympic Games, in the framework of the sanctions for the war in Ukraine.

“The attempt to dictate the conditions for the participation of athletes in international competitions is absolutely unacceptable (…) Currently we see an undisguised desire to destroy the unity of international sport,” said Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin, quoted by local news agencies.

This Friday, the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky, estimated that the presence of Russian athletes in the Paris-2024 Games would be “a sign of violence and impunity.”

The President of Ukraine is committed to the exclusion of Russian athletes Photo AFP
The President of Ukraine is committed to the exclusion of Russian athletes. Photo: AFP.

Those who call for exclusion “would do better to take care of sport in their own countries and contribute to sport being the ambassador of peace and allowing to build bridges between peoples”, replied Matytsin.

The Russian leader assured that “no one” called for the exclusion of American athletes from the 2004 Games after the invasion of Iraq by US troops, the AFP news agency reported.

Ukraine opposes the eventual presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the 2024 Olympic Games, supported by kyiv’s allies such as the United Kingdom and Poland. The United States, on the other hand, ruled in favor of them participating with the neutral flag.

The president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, denounced in an email dated January 31 and released last Thursday that the Ukrainian position goes “against the foundations of the Olympic movement.”

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