Paris Olympics Russia and others to participate in "next March" IOC President Bach's remarks?

Regarding the timing of the IOC = International Olympic Committee to decide whether to participate Russian and Belarusian athletes in next year's Paris Olympics, IOC President Bach said, 'The decision will be adopted in March next year,' the Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine revealed on his SNS.

At the Paris Olympics, the focus is on whether to allow athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus, which continue its military invasion of Ukraine, to participate, and the IOC has not made a decision at this time.

Regarding the timing of this decision, Ukrainian Minister of Youth and Sports Hutzeit said on his SNS on December 6 that IOC President Bach said on the eve of the "Olympic Summit" held in Lausanne, Switzerland on December 12, that "the decision on the acceptance of Russian athletes into the Olympics will be adopted in March next year."

In addition, he reiterated his opposition to the participation of both countries in the Olympic Games, saying, "As long as the war in Ukraine continues, those who have seriously violated the Olympic Charter, including the war, should be excluded from international competitions."

At the Olympic Summit, ASOIF = Union of Sports Organizations of the Olympic Summer Games called on the IOC to make a decision as soon as possible in the direction of allowing both countries to participate as neutral individual athletes who do not represent any country or region. The Union of Olympic Committees, which includes the Olympic Committees of 5 countries and territories, also expressed support.

Consensus building in the direction of allowing participation in a "neutral individual capacity"

On the other hand, on the 6th, the day after the Olympic Summit, the IOC held a meeting of IOC members and a meeting of representatives of each international sports organization online.

According to the attendees, there was no objection to the acceptance of Russian and Belarusian athletes as "neutral individual athletes" at the Paris Olympics, and consensus is being reached in the direction of allowing both countries to participate.

One of the representatives of an international sports organization told NHK, "Even if there is a state of war between countries, athletes and athletes should believe that the value of sports is that they respect each other, respect each other, and enjoy sports, and that it will be a message that leads to peace."