• According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Emmanuel Macron has announced that athletes from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus should be treated equally at the next Olympics in Paris in 2024.

  • According to Russian media, it would even be him who would influence the change of direction of the Olympic Committee which on Wednesday announced “to explore means” in order to reintegrate Russian and Belarusian athletes banned from international competitions since the start of the war in Ukraine.

  • However, Emmanuel Macron has never publicly announced any reinstatement of these athletes.

Is sport political?

A recurring question with the approach of international competitions, of which Emmanuel Macron has refused any debate.

"We must not politicize sport", repeated the Head of State in November.

However, according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba this Thursday on Twitter, Emmanuel Macron would have announced "that athletes from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus should be treated in the same way".

"Using sport to whitewash war crimes is disgusting," the Ukrainian minister accused.

The minister quotes in his tweet Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which would suggest that Emmanuel Macron said these words in the context of the Paris Olympics in 2024. If the indignation of Dmytro Kuleba is understandable, the words have been taken out of their original context.

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has gone back in time to explain why.

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Dmytro Kuleba's tweet was published on Thursday, the day after an executive commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

At the end of this meeting, its president Thomas Bach announced that he wanted to “explore ways” to reintegrate Russian and Belarusian athletes banned from international competitions since the start of the war in Ukraine.

However, no deadline or precise means were given on this possible reinstatement.

“There is no change in our position.

The sanctions must remain in place, ”he however tempered.

Among the sanctions, we find for example the prohibition of the flags of the two countries and the competitions on their soil because of the “violation of the Olympic Charter”.

Integrity of competitions at stake

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the IOC has remained cautious on this issue.

The withdrawal of Russian and Belarusian athletes had been decided in order not to hinder the integrity of the competitions, but also for the safety of the athletes.

Last July, Craig Reedie, senior member of the IOC had also issued several directives to the governing organizations asking to ban Russians and Belarusians from sports competitions.

"A decision is going to have to be made on what happens to each of these two countries, and I guess the general feeling is that they shouldn't qualify," he said at the time.

The “unifying and conciliatory character”

But in recent weeks, organizations seem to be revising their copies slightly.

At the beginning of December, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a new resolution which declared that major international sporting events should “be organized in a spirit of peace”, recalling the necessary respect for the “federative and conciliatory nature” of these events.

During this assembly, the President of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi added: “If we want to bring about change, to transform the world, we must include sports and athletes in our work.

Where politics and ideology can divide, forcing animosity and separation, sport brings people together in peaceful competition,” calling sport a true “common ground.”

Emmanuel Macron blows in the ears of the IOC?

But what is Emmanuel Macron doing in all this spiel?

The information may well have been slightly distorted.

For example, we find similar information published by the Visegrad media on Twitter this Thursday.

“The International Olympic Committee has announced that President Macron wants Russians and Belarusians to participate in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris,” tweeted the Eastern European media… without further explanation.

On the side of the Russian media Rsport ria, it would be President Macron who influenced the IOC during a G20 summit in Indonesia - mentioned by the United Nations in their report.

However, Emmanuel Macron never really said that he wanted the reinstatement of Russian and Belarusian athletes during the 2024 Olympics. on the politicization of sport.

But at this time, Emmanuel Macron is asked about the World Cup which is currently taking place in Qatar and which is causing much controversy as to its human and climatic cost.

“I think we shouldn't politicize sport.

These questions, you have to ask yourself when you attribute the event, ”he replied when journalists asked him about his potential coming to Qatar to encourage the Blues.

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No official announcement

And the Head of State then continued on the competition organized in France this time: “I do not know in what context the Olympic Games that we will organize in France in 2024 will take place on the geopolitical level.

But these major events are intended to allow athletes from all countries, including sometimes countries at war, to experience their sport.

Also finding, through sport, ways of discussing where people can no longer talk to each other, I think that must be preserved”.

However, the president's remarks were only quoted by Thomas Bach during his speech and this does not in any way mean that it is an official announcement on his part.

Discussions will therefore perhaps open by then, but for the moment it is impossible to affirm a clear answer from the Head of State on the future reintegration of Russian and Belarusian athletes.

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