Ukraine moves to ban russians from Olympics

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Ukraine moves to ban russians from Olympics

KYIV Reuters Ukraine hopes to secure widespread international support for banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Paris Olympics in 2024 due to Moscow's invasion, the sports minister said on Tuesday.

Vadym Huttsait, 51, a former Olympic fencing champion, told Reuters that the idea of allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals was unacceptable.

It is impossible for us at a time when the full-scale war is going on, when our athletes, our soldiers are defending our homeland, he said in his Kyiv office, next to a wall with portraits of athletes killed in the war.

Last week, the International Olympic CommitteeOlympic Committee said it was open to including Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutrals at the Games and opened a door to them competing in qualifiers, prompting an international campaign by Kyiv to keep them out.

Moscow said on Tuesday it would welcome any IOC moves to allow its athletes to participate in the Olympics. But hours later the IOC said it was standing by sanctions imposed against the countries over Russia's invasion.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address on Tuesday that Russian politisation of sport would invariably mean the justification of terror. At least 220 Ukrainian athletes and coaches died in the war, said Huttsait, who won Olympic fencing team gold in 1992 for the so-called Unified Team, which comprised 12 of the 15 former Soviet republics. He also coached Ukraine's winning team at the 2008 Games.

Ukraine will not allow Russia to compete with many other countries, he added, adding that 40 nations had given Ukrainian athletes housing and training assistance abroad during the war.

There has been little public support for a ban on Russians in Paris from other nations.

Many sports federations have applied the IOC's initial recommendation to ban Russians and Belarusians.

It backed a proposal by the Olympic Council of Asia to allow them to compete in Asia, which could potentially include Olympic qualifying events.

If that happens, Ukraine's sporting authorities and athletes will have to make a very difficult decision on whether to boycott Paris, Huttsait said.

When we lose so many people, the lives of Ukrainians are more important to us than any medal at international competitions, he said.

Ukrainian officials have been on the IOC in recent days for promoting violence, mass murders and destruction, as well as the idea of giving Russia a platform to promote genocide. The IOC has said that such words do not promote constructive discussion and that is why such words are called defamatory.

Zelenskiy said only the free world acting together can protect sport from those sports bureaucrats who are ready to close their eyes to reality. On Tuesday, former boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko called on IOC chief Thomas Bach not to betray the Olympic spirit and become an accomplice in this abominable war. Moscow is trying to turn the page on years of doping scandals after its teams were forced to compete without their flag or anthem at the Olympics and major international events.