Appeal to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes

Scandinavian Olympic committees, Paralympic committees and sports confederations have joined the call for Russian and Belarusian athletes to be barred from next year’s Olympic Games in Paris, France, because of the war in Ukraine.

In a joint written statement from the Scandinavian countries, including Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark and the autonomous regions of the Faroe Islands and Greenland, “The situation regarding the war in Ukraine has not changed. For this reason, we maintain our position that Russian and Belarusian athletes do not participate in international sports organizations.

“Now is not the right time to think about their return (of the Russian and Belarusian athletes); this is our position”.

Three Baltic countries, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, have also called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Olympics because of the war in Ukraine, in a statement last week.

The IOC announced on January 26 that it would “look for ways” for Russians and Belarusians to participate in the 2024 Summer Olympics with the title of “neutral athletes.”

Condemning the committee’s statements, the Athletics Federation of Ukraine made the assessment that “The participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes, especially in the 2024 Olympic Games with the title of neutral athletes, is a situation that will support the brutal struggle of the state Russian for the continuation of the war”. (AA)