IOC rejects formal invitations to Russia and Belarus for Paris 2024
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IOC rejects formal invitations to Russia and Belarus for Paris 2024
Russia and Belarus will not receive official invitations to the 2024 Paris Olympics, the International Olympic Committee said on Thursday (July 13, 2023), while more than 200 national teams will receive them in the traditional way later this month. invite.
A year before the Summer or Winter Olympics, it is an IOC tradition to invite all national teams from around the world to compete.
But some Russian and Belarusian athletes can still compete in Paris without their national teams being invited. Currently their country is waging war against Ukraine.
The IOC said on Thursday that invitations to Paris will be sent to 203 eligible National Olympic Committees (NOCs) on July 26.
“For the reasons given, the NOCs of Russia and Belarus, as well as the currently suspended NOC of Guatemala, will be excluded,” the IOC said in a statement.
The Belarusian National Olympic Committee is headed by Viktor Lukashenko, the son of the country’s leader, Alexander Lukashenko. He followed his father in Olympic duties.
Seventeen months ago, days after the war in Ukraine broke out, the IOC urged international sports bodies to block and isolate athletes, officials and host cities from Russia and Belarus.
This year, as the next Olympics loom, the IOC has urged the sporting bodies to try to get some Russian and Belarusian athletes who have been assessed as neutral individuals to participate in the Paris qualifiers.
The IOC has always said it could choose not to invite Russia and Belarus to the international event at all.
“This decision will be taken at the sole discretion of the IOC in due course and is not bound by the results of previous Olympic qualifying events,” the body said Thursday.
Guatemala is currently suspended from the Olympic movement over alleged government interference with the independence of the National Olympic Committee.
(This article is based on a report from the Associated Press in Lausanne, Switzerland)
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