Olympic Games Paris 2024. Accusation of “neo-Nazism” by Russia: “this goes beyond anything that is acceptable”, the IOC defends itself against Russian attacks

Le CIO ne s'est pas laissé attaquer sans répondre. MAXPPP

The International Olympic Committee said Wednesday that the Russian government had fallen "even lower" by accusing the organization of "sloping into racism and neo-Nazism" by the restrictions imposed on Russian athletes for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

"This goes beyond anything that is acceptable,” told the press Mark Adams, the spokesperson for the IOC president, the German Thomas Bach. "By linking the president, his nationality and the Holocaust (the Russian government) falls even lower. “That’s all we have to say,” he said.

Asked about a series of Russian statements in the morning, Thomas Bach preferred to let Mark Adams respond because of the "extremely aggressive” and "also very personal" of some of these accusations.

The Kremlin and Russian diplomacy were reacting to double news: the offensive launched Tuesday by the IOC against the "Friendship Games" Russians, a new competition planned for September and accused of “politicizing sport”, and the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes under neutral banners from parading during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games, July 26 in Paris.

"The IOC s'has strayed from its stated principles and has descended into racism and neo-Nazism"

"These decisions demonstrate to what extent the IOC has moved away from its declared principles and has fallen into racism and neo-Nazism,” insisted Maria Zakharova, spokesperson word of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The Kremlin also accused the IOC on Wednesday of seeking to intimidate athletes wishing to participate in future Friendship Games, because the Committee's director of Olympic Solidarity, James Macleod, did not ;#39;has not ruled out the possibility of sanctions. "It's athlete intimidation. And this completely undermines the authority of the IOC, judged Dmitri Peskov, spokesperson for the Russian president.