International summer sports federations called for speeding up the resolution of the issue of admitting Russians to the 2024 Games

International summer sports federations have appealed to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with a request to allow Russian athletes to participate in the 2024 Olympics, which will be held in Paris. Not all of them, of course, but only those who have received the right to compete in international tournaments as a neutral athlete. The federations are asking the IOC to resolve this issue as soon as possible, since delays threaten confusion with the qualifying competitions. Meanwhile, the IOC promised to make a decision on the Russian issue no earlier than March 2024.

International summer sports federations have asked the International Olympic Committee to make a decision as soon as possible on the participation of neutral athletes from Russia in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. This is stated in communique following the results of the Olympic summit held in Lausanne.

“Representatives of international summer sports federations have asked the IOC to recognize neutral athletes who have passed or will qualify as eligible to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. They also asked for a decision to be made as soon as possible in order to bring clarity to all Olympic qualification procedures and for all athletes concerned,” the statement said.

The document notes that many international federations have already allow Russians enter the competition in a neutral status and this does not cause any problems.

Let us note that the position of the international sports federations was also supported by the continental associations of the National Olympic Committees. As noted by the head of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, Emma Terho, the majority of summit participants do not support the idea of ​​disqualifying athletes from participating in tournaments for the actions of the governments of the countries they represent. She, however, emphasized that there is no talk of returning all Russians to competitions without restrictions.

The IOC believes that the developed criteria admission to tournaments as neutral athletes (among them, in particular, refusal to actively support a special operation and lack of ties with the armed forces of the Russian Federation and “national security agencies”) must be maintained.

It is not clear from the IOC statement whether the leadership of this organization will heed the call of international sports federations. Earlier, IOC head Thomas Bach stated that the decision to admit Russian and Belarusian athletes to the 2024 Games will be accepted only in March 2024. However, the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) does not expect anything good from March 2024, and ROC President Stanislav Pozdnyakov previously called the IOC’s actions ritual dances.

The Olympic Games in Paris will take place from July 26 to August 11, 2024. Russia and Belarus did not receive invitations to the Olympics on time.

Arnold Kabanov