General feeling could be Russia, Belarus shouldn’t qualify for Paris 2024: Former IOC vice-president
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued steerage to sports activities governing our bodies in February this yr to take away Russian and Belarusian athletes from the occasion.
Former IOC Vice-President Craig Reedie throughout a press convention. (Courtesy: Reuters)
HIGHLIGHTSIOC issued steerage to take away Russian and Belarusian athletesFormer IOC VP says athletes might miss qualification for 2024Russian members who sit on IOC have not been sanctioned or banned
Russian and Belarusian athletes might not have the ability to compete on the Paris 2024 Games because of the invasion of Ukraine, former International Olympic Committee (IOC) Vice-President Craig Reedie stated.
The IOC had issued steerage to sports activities governing our bodies in February this yr to take away Russian and Belarusian athletes from the occasion. Belarus has been used as a staging floor for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“A decision is going to have to be taken on what happens to each of these two countries, and my guess is that the general feeling would be that they should not qualify,” Reedie was quoted saying.
“Most people are struggling with how we could achieve some degree of representation, but at the moment, there is no clear way to do it. Therefore, you maintain the status quo.”
There are possibilities that athletes might miss the qualification occasions for the Paris Games. The IOC President Thomas Bach had earlier in May stated that Russia’s participation on the occasion was unclear.
Notably, Russian members who sit on the IOC have neither been sanctioned nor banned from collaborating in Olympic conferences.
Among the sports activities on the Olympics programme, solely biking, tennis and judo have allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to proceed to compete. However, Reedie added that he doubted whether or not these athletes could be permitted to compete within the qualifying occasions.
“It’s quite difficult halfway through to say, ‘All of you who have now qualified we’ve changed the rules’.
“So there’s an actual situation for the federations, who’ve a transparent instruction which they’ve agreed to that they will not invite Russians and Belarusians to participate in occasions.
“On the face of it, it’s unlikely that anybody would qualify other than those three sports which don’t do it that way. And will they be able to qualify (from those three sports)? I’m not sure.”
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