Zelenskyy tells summit ‘no place’ for Russia at Olympics
LONDON >> Russian athletes have “no place” at next year’s Paris Olympics while their country’s invasion of Ukraine continues, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told a summit of sports officials from 36 countries Friday.
The International Olympic Committee argues it would be discriminatory to exclude Russia and ally Belarus from sports ahead of the 2024 Paris Games. With qualifying in many sports already underway, the IOC wants athletes from those countries to compete in a neutral capacity without national symbols.
“While Russia kills and terrorizes, representatives of the terrorist state have no place at sports and Olympic competitions,” Zelenskyy told the summit in an opening address by video link, according to a transcript issued by his office.
“And it cannot be covered up with some pretended neutrality or a white flag. Because Russia is now a country that stains everything with blood — even the white flag. It must be recognized. And this must be recognized, in particular, at the level of the International Olympic Committee,” Zelenskyy said. “The International Olympic Committee needs honesty. Honesty it has unfortunately lost. Honesty that will help stop Russian terror and bring peace closer.”
Zelenskyy made surprise visits to Britain and France this week, pushing for fighter jets to battle Russian invaders in a dramatic speech to the British Parliament.
Friday’s summit meeting, which was held online and chaired by British Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, took place on a day of intense missile and drone strikes by Russian forces against Ukraine.
“There is danger here that the world wishes to move on and back to business as usual,” Frazer said. “However, the situation in Ukraine has not changed since the IOC’s initial decision last February on banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from competition.”
Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Lee Satterfield said at the summit that the U.S. government still supports the multinational statements it signed onto over the last year. Those have called on sports organizations that allow Russians to participate to ensure the Russians compete as neutral athletes and to ban the Russian flag. Both statements, however, were drafted well before the IOC began pushing in January to find a pathway for some Russian athletes into the Paris Game.
Satterfield also told the summit the State Department would consult with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee on next steps and seek more clarity from the IOC about its position, according to an agency spokesperson.
In a letter sent to IOC president Thomas Bach on Thursday, Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Guttsait said allowing Russians to compete would further traumatize athletes affected by the war.
“The participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions will make it impossible for Ukrainian athletes to take part in them, because each of the Ukrainians suffered from Russian aggression in one way or another: They lost their relatives and friends, lost their homes, received psychological trauma, lost the opportunity to do what they love,” wrote Guttsait, who also leads the Ukrainian Olympic Committee.
Ukraine has previously made public a letter from Bach to Guttsait saying that “threatening a boycott ... goes against the fundamentals of the Olympic Movement and the principles we stand for.”