The Ukrainian Olympic Committee this Friday expressed its disagreement with the possible participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, as well as in other international competitions.
More than a hundred presidents of Ukrainian sports federations also agreed on the possibility of a boycott of the Olympic Games in a virtual meeting that took place as anti-aircraft alerts sounded across the country.
The final decision will be made within a few months, after the positions of sports organizations and international federations, namely the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which the Ukrainian government accuses of condoning war propaganda, become known.
“War takes the lives of thousands of citizens. We must unite and fight against the possibility of participation of Russians and Belarusians in international competitions and the Olympic Games,” said Vadim Gutsait, president of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee, gold medalist in fencing. in Barcelona, 1992
Over the next week, the Ukrainian Olympic Committee will communicate its position to the heads of national and international sports federations, and, depending on the reaction of the IOC and subsequent decisions, a further meeting will decide how to move forward.
“As long as the war continues, Russian and Belarusian athletes should not be allowed to participate even under a neutral flag,” Vadim Gutzeit emphasized, adding that Ukraine could resort to a boycott “as a last resort.”
In this sense, compromises are impossible, the former Olympic champion said, as Russia destroyed 334 sports infrastructures in Ukraine and killed 220 Ukrainian athletes.
In addition, the president of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee indicated that other countries, such as Lithuania, Latvia and Poland, support the Ukrainian position.
At a press conference that followed the virtual meeting, Valery Borzov, a member of the committee and a former Olympic champion in the 100 and 200 meters in Munich in 1972, stated that the simultaneous participation of Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian athletes would become a serious moral dilemma.
Marta Fedina, bronze medalist of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in synchronized swimming, stressed that attacks by Russian athletes practically deprive Ukrainian athletes of the opportunity to train and prepare for competitions, so allowing Russians and Belarusians to participate would be a violation of the principles of “fair play”.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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