MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) continues to take a hard line regarding letting Russia compete at the 2024 Olympics in Paris and imposes its viewpoint on any federations that chose to ease requirements on Russian athletes participating at next year’s competition, President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Stanislav Pozdnyakov said on Tuesday.
"I stated back in late March, when the IOC voiced its initial recommendations for international sports federations, that they were unacceptable," Pozdnyakov told journalists. "They are absolutely illegitimate and lack any legal foundation."
"As of today, many heads of sports federations have tried to adjust the requirements, finding limited success here," the ROC chief continued. "However, as we can see the IOC stands firm regarding its conditions, which the overwhelming majority of Russian athletes view as unacceptable in order to participate in the [2024 Olympic] Games, while only a few ‘neutralized’ athletes will be able to compete."
"The Russian Olympic Committee is temporarily suspended and that is why we will not be taking part in this event [the 2024 Olympics]. However, we intend to discuss this issue at the next Olympic session," Pozdnyakov added.
The 2024 Summer Olympic Games will be hosted by the French capital of Paris between July 26 and August 11.
On October 12, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) until further notice after the Russian organization included the Olympic councils of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions as its members.
The Swiss-based CAS registered on November 6 an appeal from the ROC against the IOC’s decision on the Russian governing Olympic body’s suspension.
The suspension means that the ROC cannot act as a national Olympic committee or receive financing from the Olympic movement. The IOC however reserved the right to clear Russian athletes to take part in the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 as neutrals. Later, IOC President Thomas Bach said that Russian athletes should have no affiliation with the ROC if they want to compete at the Olympic Games.
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.