Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy blasted the International Olympic Committee for still allowing “neutral flags” representing Russian athletes at the 2024 Paris games.
The IOC announced Wednesday that “no flag, anthem, colours or any other identifications whatsoever” from Russia or Belarus will be on display during the upcoming games. Instead, these countries will be allowed to send “neutral athletes” with their “neutral flags” as long as they commit to “respect the Olympic charter” and have not actively supported the war in Ukraine.
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“There is no such thing as neutrality when a war like this is going on,” Zelenksy said in a speech Friday. “And we know how often tyrannies try to use sports for their ideological interests. It is obvious that any neutral flag of Russian athletes is stained with blood.”
Throughout his speech, Zelenksy referred to Russia as “the terrorist state” and called out its military for targeting “towns and villages” around Ukraine’s military positions “deliberately and methodically.” Zelensky cited this as reason enough to find IOC President Thomas Bach’s decision disagreeable, despite the two previously having several talks. The Ukrainian president invited Bach to visit the war-torn country to see the effects of the war himself.
This decision from the IOC came after the special rapporteur in the field of cultural rights and the special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism issued a statement expressing concern about a ban on all Russian and Belarusian athletes as it was discriminatory. Other professional sports leagues in the United States, Canada, and Europe have already adopted a similar policy of allowing “neutral athletes.”
“We will do everything so that the world will protect sports from political and any other influence of the terrorist state, which is simply inevitable if Russian athletes participate in competitions,” Zelenksy said. “And especially — at the Paris Olympics.”
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Meanwhile, in December, Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus all voted in favor of a resolution out of the United Nations General Assembly that “the unifying and conciliative nature of such [sporting] events should be respected.” The resolution also granted the IOC “independence and autonomy” with the full support of its member states.
During the 2020 Tokyo games, which actually took place in 2021, Russian athletes competed as the Russian Olympic Committee.
