Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) will not boycott this year’s Paris Olympics, its president has said. The move comes despite despite the restrictions imposed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on its athletes as a result of the Kremlin’s offensive in Ukraine.
“We will never take the path of boycotting (the games). We will always support our athletes,” Stanislav Pozdnyakov, the former Olympic fencer who heads the ROC, said in comments carried by Russian state news agency RIA. “But we stress that the conditions set by the IOC are illegitimate, unfair and unacceptable.”
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The International Olympic Committee suspended Russia, and Belarus, from the Paris 2024 Games last December. The IOC will allow Russians and Belarusians who qualify in their sport for the Paris Games, which take place from 26 July to 11 August, to compete as neutrals, without the flags, emblems or national anthems of their countries.
The Ukrainian Olympic Committee sent a letter to IOC President Thomas Bach in February, asking him to investigate the behaviour of Russian and Belarusian athletes ahead of the Paris 2024 Games, claiming they had failed to meet the conditions imposed and were “supporting aggression against Ukraine”.
The IOC has yet to announce whether Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed to take part in the Opening Ceremony under the neutral flag. The IOC’s decision will be at its next executive board meeting on 19 and 20 March in Lausanne. Specifically, the IOC must determine the conditions for neutral athletes attending the Paris 2024 inauguration.
According to AFP, the Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin ruled out expecting any flexibility from the IOC when its executive board meets next week. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said last week that Russian and Belarusian Paralympic athletes would not take part in the opening ceremony.
