[Sport] Russia described the IOC's decision not to invite Russian and Belarusian athletes to the 2024 Paris Games as unfair

[Kyro]

 

The Kremlin on Friday dismissed as unfair the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) not to invite Russian and Belarusian athletes to the 2024 Paris Games, announced the day before.

"We don't consider it fair. Our position is well known. We are categorically against the politicization of sport," said the spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitri Peskov, at his daily press conference.

According to the Kremlin representative, “Russian athletes should have the right to participate in international competitions. We will continue to work with everyone, including the IOC, to defend the rights of our athletes."

The International Olympic Committee announced this Thursday that it will not include Russia and Belarus in the list of invitations that it will send on July 26 to all the national Olympic committees (NOCs) in the world to participate in the Paris Games.

Although the athletes from both countries, who were sanctioned after the Russian military intervention in Ukraine in February 2022, have already returned to most competitions under a neutral flag, the IOC qualified that it will make a decision "in due course" about their participation in the Games.

The Russian Sports Minister, Oleg Matitsin, denounced this Thursday that the IOC decision is an act of discrimination that violates the principles of Olympism: "This yet another discrimination, a violation of the principles of Olympism," he said, adding that the decision was made without taking into account the "qualifying competitions".

https://noticiasaldiayalahora.co/deportes/rusia-califico-de-injusta-la-decision-del-comite-olimpico-internacional-coi-de-no-invitar-a-los-deportistas-rusos-y-bielorrusos-a-los-juegos-de-paris-de-2024/