MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. Officials of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) rely too heavily on their donors, putting the whole Olympic movement at peril, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
"Everything that international officials impose in regard to the Russian sports movement contradicts and perverts the original idea of Pierre de Coubertin: 'O Sport, You Are Joy!’," he said during his combined Direct Line Q&A session and year-end press conference. "The Olympic Movement was established to unite people, not divide them."
"International officials have become too deeply involved in the business side of the sports movement today and they rely heavily on their donors," the Russian president continued. "If things go on like this, they will bury the Olympic Movement."
The Russian president also pointed out that the IOC recommendations regarding admission of the Russian athletes to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris needed to be thoroughly analyzed.
The 2024 Summer Olympic Games will be hosted by the French capital of Paris between July 26 and August 11.
"I've always said that athletes are training for years, and we must provide them with an opportunity to participate in grand tournaments, including the Olympic Games," he said. ""Everyone knows that this is our flag flying, everyone knows that this is our athlete participating, it is obvious."
IOC sanctions against Russia, Belarus
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.
Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
In late March, 2023, the IOC recommended to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.
On July 26, 2023, the IOC extended invitations to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris to 203 National Olympic Committees. Russia and Belarus did not receive invitations. The IOC explained later that there was no deadline regarding the issue of Russian and Belarusian athletes’ participation.