Paris 2024 Olympics: Martin Fourcade advocates openness for Russian and Belarusian athletes

Europe 1 with AF 16:24 p.m., May 24, 2023, modified at 16:28 p.m., May 24, 2023

Former French biathlon star Martin Fourcade, IOC member and chairman of the Paris 2024 Athletes' Commission, reiterated on Wednesday that he was in favour of Russian and Belarusian athletes returning to international competitions on principle. "I have always advocated a notion of openness, that is to say to treat athletes as personalities and not as part of a system from which they are often well independent and for which they do not fight," said the five-time Olympic champion, on the sidelines of an interview with AFP devoted to a personal project.

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"Russian and Belarusian athletes should be able to compete under a neutral banner"

"As an athlete, it would have affected me enormously to be judged, not as an athlete, on what I did, but through the decisions of my country, even if I am French and very happy to be, I do not always support," he added, stressing that he had "always been very clear with this". The debate on the reintegration of Russian and Belarusian athletes, excluded from international competitions since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, remains lively. "These are discussions that I have regularly at the IOC, as part of my duties on the Athletes' Commission," Fourcade said.

In February, in an interview in English with the NRK channel, the French champion had already said he was in favor of their return, stressing that he was speaking in a personal capacity and that it was a question of principle: an athlete should not be banned "because his president behaves like crazy". As such, Russian and Belarusian athletes should be able to compete under a neutral banner, he added.

The IOC has issued recommendations

Since then, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has issued recommendations to this effect, without however setting deadlines, and the return of these athletes is done in dispersed order, in the light of the interpretation of the instructions and against the backdrop of the qualifying events for the Paris 2024 Games. Eyes are particularly focused on the European Games, in Krakow, from June 21 to July 2, because they will weigh heavily to qualify in several sports such as archery or table tennis, among those planning to reintegrate Russians and Belarusians. The fencing tournament will not award any individual points in the race for Olympic qualification for athletes from both countries. Conversely, athletics has maintained its exclusionary measures to date.