Act Daily News
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International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has defended plans to permit Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in worldwide competitions.
“First of all, what is maybe most important, what has changed, is that participation of athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports in competitions and in international competitions, works,” Bach mentioned Tuesday, at first of the IOC Executive Board’s three-day assembly to debate solidarity with Ukraine, the sanctions in opposition to Russia and Belarus, and the standing of athletes from these nations.
“We see this nearly day by day in various sports activities. We see it most prominently in tennis, however we see it additionally in biking.
“We see it in some table tennis competitions, we see it in ice hockey, we see it in handball, we see it in football and in other leagues – in the United States, but also in Europe, and we also see it in other continents.”
He added: “It’s even that the governments on whose territory the competitions are taking place, they’re issuing visas [to Russians and Belarusian athletes] with very few exceptions. In other countries, they’re even issuing working permits where it’s necessary for these players and athletes.”
In an IOC press convention in Lausanne, Switzerland, Bach additionally mentioned that, “The executive board reiterates that the participation of athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport at the Olympics Games Paris 2024 was not considered either in the consultations or in its deliberations today.”
Bach’s feedback come after greater than 300 lively and former fencers wrote to the IOC urging the group to uphold sanctions in opposition to Russian and Belarusian athletes, saying that permitting them entry again into worldwide competitions could be “a catastrophic error.”
“Russia’s aggression violates not only the norms of international law but also the fundamental values of Olympism, including peace, harmonious development of humankind and respect for human dignity and human rights,” the letter reads.
“As lengthy as Russia’s struggle of aggression, aided by Belarus, wages on, each states’ athletes and officers should stay excluded from world sport. Given the latest escalation of assaults in opposition to Ukrainian civilians, there must be no purpose at the moment to permit Russia and Belarus to be reintegrated into world sport.
“Integration would lay a precedent in which a nation can violate the values and rules of sport and international peace without fear of consequences,” the letter provides.
The letter – addressed to IOC President Bach, who’s a former Olympic fencer, and Emmanuel Katsiadakis, the interim president of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) – was despatched on the day the IOC Executive Board is ready to start its three-day assembly to debate solidarity with Ukraine, the sanctions in opposition to Russia and Belarus and the standing of athletes from these nations.
Act Daily News has reached out to the IOC and FIE for remark.
In January, the IOC outlined a multi-step plan for Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part on the upcoming 2024 Summer Games in Paris and the 2026 Winter Games in Milan, which was met with criticism from the United States, Canada and several other European nations, together with the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland.
In a February assertion, the IOC reiterated its condemnation of the struggle in Ukraine, one 12 months on from the beginning of the invasion.
But the fencers accuse the IOC and FIE of permitting Russian and Belarusian athletes again into competitions, regardless of the IOC’s February 2022 sanctions because of the Ukraine invasion.
“With complete disregard for athletes’ voices, you have permitted both Russia and Belarus back into FIE competitions, as well as a suspected tournament hosted on Russian soil,” the letter mentioned.
“This is an apparent breach of the IOC’s position that ‘no international sport events are to be organized or supported by an IF or NOC in Russia or Belarus’ and once again exposes Russian interests outweighing the voice and rights of athletes, especially those from Ukraine,” the fencers say.
It is unclear which match is being referred to within the letter. Act Daily News has sought clarification from the IOC and FIE.
Last month, the US and greater than 30 different “like-minded” nations backed a proposed ban of Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in worldwide sports activities, in line with a joint assertion.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s sports activities minister mentioned in January the nation wouldn’t rule out boycotting the Olympics if Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete at Paris 2024.
Last week, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe introduced Russian and Belarusian athletes will nonetheless be excluded from World Athletics Series Events “for the foreseeable future,” reaffirming the group’s March 2022 resolution.
It comes because the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has cataloged hundreds of instances of civilian casualties within the Ukraine battle within the six months to the top of January, together with instances of torture, rape and arbitrary detention.
In its newest report, issued Friday, the OHCHR mentioned that “the human rights situation across the country remains dire amid the ongoing armed attack by the Russian Federation against Ukraine.” It had “verified numerous allegations of arbitrary deprivation of life, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance, torture and ill-treatment, and conflict-related sexual violence.”
Source: www.cnn.com