Olympics 2024: African Olympic Committees in favor of the integration of Russian athletes
The mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo visiting Kiev reaffirmed that she was against the arrival of Russian athletes at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
(Archives) © PRESS OFFICE OF VITALI KLITSCHKO / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The African Olympic Committees spoke out this Saturday, March 4, in favor of the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, on the occasion of the Executive Committee of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (Acnoa) in Nouakchott.
Advertisement
Read more
The African Olympic Committees have aligned themselves with the position of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and joined the Olympic Council of Asia (COA) which had proposed at the end of January to integrate Russian and Belarusian athletes into its regional competitions such as the Asian Games in expressing support for the IOC's position.
“
Members came out unanimously in favor of the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in all international competitions
,” Acnoa 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.
At the end of January, the Olympic body sketched out a roadmap to reintegrate Russians and Belarusians, excluded from world sport since the invasion of Ukraine, under a neutral flag, on condition that they had "not actively supported 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 Acnoa, 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
": "
the athletes must in no case pay the heavy price of a conflict whatever
“, 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 Olympic Games 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)
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
Extend your reading on the same topics
Olympics 2024