The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) recommendation to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to international competition as neutrals is “excessive and discriminatory,” the Russian Olympic Committee (COR) athletes’ commission said.
The IOC sanctioned Russia and its ally Belarus after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but last month recommended that their athletes be allowed to return to international competition as neutrals.
The recommendations include Russian and Belarusian athletes being allowed to compete without a flag or anthem, while athletes who support the war or are employed by military or national security agencies are excluded.
In March, COR head Stanislav Pozdnyakov denounced the recommendations, a stance backed by the athletes’ commission chaired by former Olympic 800m champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy.
“The proposed reintegration and admission criteria are excessive and discriminatory: by nationality and passport, by discipline and sport, and by affiliation with certain entities that have been developing sport for decades in most post-Soviet states,” the commission said in a statement.
“In our opinion, a dangerous precedent has been set when no athlete in the world can be sure that his or her human and civil rights will be duly respected from now on, that decisions are made based on the Law and the Olympic Charter, without exemptions,” it said.
“Today we, the athletes, are being held hostage to political games that divide the international sporting community and at the same time sow discord within the Olympic family, dictating the parameters of admission, defining who is eligible to perform and who is not,” he added.
Table tennis, pentathlon, fencing, judo and taekwondo are among the Olympic sports that have readmitted athletes from Russia and Belarus as neutrals.
The IOC will decide later on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the 2024 Olympics, while Ukraine has threatened to boycott the sporting event if Russians are allowed to compete.
On Tuesday, the UK and French sports ministers insisted that Russian and Belarusian athletes should not compete as neutrals, while Kiev banned its national sports teams from participating in events that include athletes from the two nations.