The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) said on Monday it was in favor of reintegrating Russian and Belarusian athletes under a neutral banner for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
They had been barred from international competition following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February.
There was “unanimous interest” among delegates at a recent International Olympic Committee (IOC) summit in finding a path to get these athletes back into competition, US officials said.
“There is a real desire for this to happen because our mission is to bring the world together peacefully around sport,” USOPC President Susanne Lyons told reporters.
“The Olympic movement can hardly tolerate these athletes being barred from competing,” he said.
The reintegration of Russian and Belarusian athletes into competitions in Asia, the first step before international reintegration, was discussed at the “Olympic Summit” in Lausanne on December 9, which brought together notably American, Chinese and Russian delegations, but no Ukrainian representatives. .
“Strict” neutrality.
The “neutrality” of Russian and Belarusian athletes would avoid the risk of boycotts as in the 70s and 80s.
“There are conflicts all over the world every day, countries at war every day, and if people decide to boycott things by reacting – + You didn’t come to our Olympics, we won’t go to yours + – the essence of the Olympic movement and Paralympic will quickly disappear,” Ms Lyons said.
But this neutrality must be “strict” and “there can be no colors or the name of the country,” he stressed.
At the Beijing Winter Games in February, Russian athletes were only able to compete in their Olympic committee’s colors due to sanctions after doping scandals, but many still wore Russian-coloured clothing.
Olympic officials also want to examine the idea of making athletes’ returns conditional on their assurances that they have never supported Russia in the dispute with Ukraine, although Lyons acknowledged it may be “impossible” to do so.
“But there is an agreement on (a return) athletes who have not actively supported” Moscow, he stressed.
ats, afp
