Last Updated: March 10, 2023, 08:09 IST
Olympics rings in Paris (Reuters)
The International Olympic Committee is dealing with a mounting backlash after setting out a path final month for Russian and Belarusian athletes to qualify for the Olympics and to compete as neutrals, with no flags or anthems
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) stated it helps a ban on athletes from Russia and Belarus competing within the 2024 Paris Summer Games as long as the invasion of Ukraine continues, difficult a name from a bunch of retired Olympians to finish help for his or her participation.
The group, which included lots of Canada’s best Olympians comparable to ice dancer Tessa Virtue, hockey participant Hayley Wickenheiser and cross-country skier Beckie Scott, voiced their issues in a letter to the COC and on Wednesday in a section on CBC, the nation’s nationwide broadcaster.
“Several outstanding athletes are calling on the Canadian Olympic Committee to help a ban of athletes from Russia and Belarus competing in Paris 2024 whereas the invasion is ongoing,” the COC said in a statement on Thursday.
“Our position, consistent over the past year, is that we support the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes from international sport while the invasion is ongoing.”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is dealing with a mounting backlash after setting out a path final month for Russian and Belarusian athletes to qualify for the Olympics and to compete as neutrals, with no flags or anthems.
Athletes from these nations have been banned from many worldwide competitions after Russia launched what it calls its “particular navy operation” in Ukraine last year, but some international federations are now allowing them back following the IOC guidance.
Canada was among 35 countries that released a joint statement in February calling on the IOC to clarify the definition of “neutrality” and pledging their help for banning Russians and Belarusians from worldwide competitions.
“We firmly consider that, given there was no change within the scenario relating to the Russian aggression in Ukraine, and as an crucial for equity and solidarity in the direction of the Ukrainian athletes whose amenities have been destroyed and who’ve had to depart their nation … there isn’t a sensible cause to transfer away from the exclusion regime for Russian and Belarusian athletes set by the IOC of their assertion of 28 February 2022,” said the statement signed by Canada and 34 other countries.
“We have strong concerns on how feasible it is for Russian and Belarusian Olympic athletes to compete as ‘neutrals’ – under the IOC’s conditions of no identification with their country – when they are directly funded and supported by their states (unlike, for example, professional tennis players).”
The COC supplied to host a particular assembly with the COC Board of Directors and the athlete signatories of the letter however have been repeatedly turned down.
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