Paris 2024 Olympic Games. “Their participation would be an insult”: the Council of Europe against the participation of Russians and Belarusians even under a neutral banner

La présence des athlètes russes et bélarusses fait encore parler. MAXPPP – Bertrand RIOTORD

"Russian and Belarusian athletes should not participate in the Paris Olympic Games", it would be "an insult to Ukrainian athletes", said Wednesday, March 20, the president of the   rsquo;Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Greek Theodoros Rousopoulos.

The Council of Europe, watchdog for human rights on the continent and which brings together 46 countries, had already requested last year the exclusion of athletes Russians and Belarusians of the Paris Games. But, on Tuesday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) simply indicated that athletes from these two countries, admitted under neutral banners, would not parade during the opening ceremony on July 26.

"I regret that the International Olympic Committee has decided not to follow our call", notes Theodoros Rousopoulos. "The fundamental principles of Olympism are, […] by definition, opposed to war. So I ask the question: should athletes from a country that has invaded another participate in the Olympic Games and proudly represent this country, asks the president of l’APCE.

"In other words: can we condemn Russia for bombing Ukrainian civilians, kidnapping children, torturing prisoners, carrying out massacres – and then applaud its athletes ? Knowing that many of these athletes are actually engaged in the Russian army, and that the vast majority of them receive salaries from the state&nbsp ;?", he continues.

55 Russians and 28 Belarusians

Mr Rousopoulos recalls that the Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution last June "with a simple answer : Russian and Belarusian athletes should not participate at the Paris Olympic Games. Why ? Because their participation would be an insult to Ukrainian athletes, many of whom have died due to the war, and the majority of whom cannot train properly, due to the destruction of sports infrastructure& quot;.

"I’I have heard some people suggest that athletes and sportspeople should not be held responsible for the decisions of their governments. Let's not be naive. Any victory of these athletes, even under a neutral flag, could be celebrated – and used – as a propaganda tool,” Mr. Rousopoulos still insists.

First banned from world sport, the Russians and Belarusians were admitted to the Games last year under strict conditions by the IOC. Stripped of their national colors, the athletes from the two countries should however be few in number: according to IOC experts there will be a maximum of 55 Russians and 28 Belarusians, which is much less than at the Tokyo Games where they were respectively 330 and 104.