PACE Calls For Total Ban On Russian, Belarusian Athletes Competing In 2024 Paris Olympics

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd June, 2023) The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in a 71-to-4 vote adopted a resolution Thursday calling on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its bodies to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in the Paris-hosted 2024 Summer Olympic Games even as neutral athletes.

"The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its constituent sports bodies to maintain the position expressed in 2022, and to prohibit the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games - and all other major sporting events - 'as long as Russia's war of aggression continues,'" PACE said in a statement on the website.

Participation of Russians and Belarusians in the games is "unthinkable" and "would certainly be used as a tool of propaganda, and would de facto prevent other athletes - not least Ukrainian ones - from participating," PACE said, adding that the committee's arguments for their participation as neutral athletes "do not carry sufficient weight faced with the imperative of condemning and repudiating the atrocities being committed, and of demonstrating the international community's complete and unwavering support for Ukraine as the onslaught continues.

" The Assembly also claimed that the IOC's criteria "cannot provide the necessary guarantees, and will not constitute a response worthy of the values of human dignity and peace enshrined in the Olympic Charter."

"It seems impossible that they could demonstrate their neutrality and distance from these regimes, let alone make any declaration against the war ... Those doing so 'would be putting themselves in a dangerous situation,' the statement said.

The IOC recommended in March that Russians and Belarusians be allowed to compete as individual neutral athletes as long as they do not actively support Russia in its conflict with Ukraine or are contracted by their national military or national security agencies.

Many sports organizations across the globe have banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in their competitions in response to Moscow's ongoing military operation in Ukraine and Minsk's alleged support for it. The athletes have also been barred from competing under national flags and using national anthems at major international sports events, including the Olympics.

Paris will host the 2024 Olympics from July 26 to August 11, 2024.