The African Olympic Committees have come out in favor of the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, they announced on Saturday March 4, on the occasion of the Executive Committee of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa. (ACNOA) in Nouakchott (in Mauritania).
“Members came out unanimously in favor of the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in all international competitions,” ANOCA said in a statement.
"It will thus be a question of allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in complete neutrality without any sign of identity in the Paris-2024 Olympic Games", continues the text.
The African Olympic Committees are thus aligning themselves with the position of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and joining the Olympic Council of Asia (COA) which had proposed at the end of January to integrate these athletes into its regional competitions such as the Asian Games, expressing its support for the IOC's position.
Do not "be banned from competition on the sole basis of your passport"
The Olympic body sketched out a roadmap at the end of January to reintegrate Russians and Belarusians, excluded from world sport since the invasion of Ukraine, under a neutral flag, on condition that they "did not actively support the war in Ukraine".
“No athlete should be banned from competition solely on the basis of their passport,” assured the IOC executive.
This is also the opinion of ANOCA, which "has given its agreement to reaffirm that politics cannot put pressure on sport and withdraw from it all its values of nobility which revolve around peace, Unity and solidarity": "Athletes must in no case pay the heavy price of a conflict whatever it is and wherever it is", indicates the press release.
The IOC's proposal to reinstate Russians and Belarusians is far from unanimous.
In a joint letter, the result of a conference organized on February 11 between sports ministers from some thirty countries including France, Great Britain, Sweden, Poland, the United States and Canada, a coalition of country asked the IOC for "clarifications" on the neutrality required for Russian and Belarusian athletes conditioning their participation in the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Ukraine is headwind against the possibility of a presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes in Paris, including under a neutral banner and has even threatened to boycott the competition.
With AFP
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