The international human rights organization presented an argument to the Olympic Committee, according to which a total of 17 Russian and Belarusian athletes have violated the rules set by the IOC.
Paris Olympics on channels 26.7.–11.8. Go to the competition website here.
The international human rights organization GRC (Global Rights Compliance) states that Russian and Belarusian athletes have violated the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) neutrality rules.
It is about ten Russian and seven Belarusian athletes who will be allowed to compete in the Paris Olympics. According to the GRC, they have violated the IOC neutrality rules regarding the war in Ukraine. Reuters report about it.
The Olympic Committee previously presented six points that Russian and Belarusian athletes should fulfill in order to participate in the Paris Games.
According to the human rights group, these 17 athletes had violated at least one point presented by the IOC, according to which those who actively support the war are not entitled to participate in the Games.
The GRC is calling on the Olympic Committee to exclude these athletes from the Paris Olympics.
According to the human rights group, the IOC had ignored their warning about athletes who broke the rules. The human rights organization urged the IOC to reconsider the decision to remove athletes who support the war.
President of the International Human Rights Organization Wayne Jordash said the IOC is turning a blind eye to the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes who have shown support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
– These Olympics should be an opportunity for the IOC to strengthen and show that it respects its own human rights policy.
A spokesman for the IOC had said that it could not comment on individual cases.
Likes for war updates
The human rights organization said that a Russian cyclist was among the athletes who broke the rules Alena Ivanchenkowho has liked several pro-war posts on social media.
The report including a Russian tennis player Elena Vesnina had liked publications that reported the “military achievements” of Russian soldiers killing Ukrainians, as well as publications that used Russia’s warmongering “Z” symbol.
These 17 offending athletes were previously declared eligible following a review by the IOC (Individual Neutral Athlete Eligibility Review Panel), which will review the athletes in December 2023.
In total 16 Russians and 17 Belarusians have been accepted to Paris to compete under a neutral flag, according to Tuesday’s count.
According to Reuters, since the February 2022 Russian invasion, more than 450 top Ukrainian athletes have died in the war.