Olympics 2024: Banning Russian athletes kills the “ideal” of Games, says Moscow
New Delhi, Mar 21: Moscow on Wednesday slammed the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s decision banning Russian athletes from the opening parade of the Games, scheduled to be held in Paris in July-August this year, because of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said this decision was against the “ideals” of the Olympic Games. “This is the destruction of the idea of Olympism and an infringement on the interests of Olympic athletes,” he said. “Of course, this is contrary to the entire ideology of the Olympic movement, and this doesn’t paint the IOC in a good light.”
On Tuesday, the IOC announced that Russian athletes will be allowed to compete in the Olympics as neutral individuals and not as a team, as it also banned them from participating in the opening parade.
The restrictions to the Russian athletes are the same as the athletes from Belarus, which allowed Russia to use its territory to start what Russia calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022. Altogether 36 Russian and 22 Belarusian athletes are expected to compete in the Olympic Games in Paris this year.
