Latvia has become the first nation to say it will not take part in the Paris 2024 Olympics if athletes from Russia and Belarus are allowed to compete in response to the war in Ukraine
Zorzs Tikmers, president of the Latvian Olympic Committee, said that if athletes from both countries were allowed to compete in the games while the war in Ukraine rages on, the Latvian team would boycott next year’s Summer Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee last week said it was ready to include Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutral participants at the Games and opened the door for them to take part in qualifiers, sparking an angry reaction from Kyiv.
And now Tikmers has said Latvia would stand by Ukraine and not send athletes to the Games if Russia and Belarus allowed it.
Latvia has become the first nation to say it will not take part in the Paris 2024 Olympics if athletes from Russia and Belarus are allowed to compete in response to the war in Ukraine (file picture)
Ukrainian soldiers adjust a 60mm mortar barrel near the front line in the Donetsk region on Tuesday
“Latvia’s position is as follows – if these games were held now and athletes from Russia and Belarus took part, I think the Latvian team would not go to these games,” Tikmers told Latvian news agency Delfi.
He added: “We hope that the war will end, Ukraine will win it, there will be a completely new situation and new rules of the game. Then, of course, Latvian athletes can also take part in such Olympic Games.”
Ukraine is hoping for broad international support for banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in the Games.
Russian forces used Belarus as a launch pad for their attack on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in February last year, and Russian and Belarusian military activity there has been going on for months.
Sports Minister of Ukraine Vadym Huttsait, 51, a former Olympic fencing champion, said last night that the idea of having Russian and Belarusian athletes compete as neutrals was unacceptable.
“This is impossible for us at a time when there is a full-scale war, when our athletes, our soldiers are defending our homeland,” Huttsait said in his Kiev office, next to a wall with portraits of athletes killed in the war .
Moscow said on Tuesday it would welcome any move by the IOC to allow its athletes to compete in the Olympics and demanded that its athletes be treated the same as those of other countries.
But hours later, the IOC said it stood by sanctions imposed on countries over the Russian invasion.
Stanislav Pozdnyakov, head of the Russian Olympic Committee, had spoken out in favor of full participation.
“The Russians have to participate under exactly the same conditions as all other athletes. Any additional conditions or criteria are undesirable, especially those with political overtones that are completely unacceptable for the Olympic movement,” Pozdnyakov said, according to Russian news agencies.
Pozdnyakov said his organization welcomes the IOC’s efforts to allow Russian athletes to participate.
“But as far as the additional terms go, we strongly disagree. The Olympic Charter states that all athletes must participate on an equal footing,” he added.
The IOC quickly pushed back, saying the sanctions on Russia and Belarus were “unanimously confirmed by the recent Olympic summit on December 9”.
These sanctions included “no flags, anthems, colors or other identifications of these countries displayed at sporting events or meetings, including the entire venue,” the IOC spokesman said.
Russian Army soldiers practice at a military training ground in the Russian-controlled Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on Tuesday
Ahead of the IOC’s response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s participation in the Paris Olympics would amount to showing that “terror can supposedly be something acceptable”.
At least 220 Ukrainian athletes and coaches died in the war, said Huttsait, who won gold with an Olympic fencing team in 1992 for the so-called Unified Team, which included 12 of the 15 former Soviet republics. He also coached the winning team Ukraine at the 2008 games.
“Ukraine will unite with many countries… and it (Russians who compete) will not be allowed,” he added, saying 40 nations provided shelter and training aid abroad to Ukrainian athletes during the war.
The IOC’s original recommendation to ban Russians and Belarusians has been implemented by many sports federations.
But last week it backed a proposal by the Olympic Council of Asia to allow them to compete in Asia, which could potentially include Olympic qualifying events.
Should that happen, Ukraine’s sports authorities and athletes will face a “very difficult decision” on whether to boycott Paris, Huttsait said.
“If we lose so many people, so many athletes, the lives of Ukrainians are more important to us than any medal in international competitions,” he said.
Ukrainian officials have in recent days turned against the IOC for promoting “violence, mass murder and destruction” with the idea of giving Russia a “platform to promote genocide.”
Zelenskyy said Sunday allowing Russia to participate in the 2024 Games would amount to showing that “terror is somehow acceptable.” Pictured: Zelenskyy with IOC President Thomas Bach on July 3, 2022 in Kyiv
The IOC has called it defamatory and said such words do not encourage constructive discussion.
Zelenskyy said: “Only the free world acting together can protect sport from those sports bureaucrats who for some reason are willing to turn a blind eye to reality.”
On Tuesday, former world boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko urged IOC chief Thomas Bach not to betray the Olympic spirit and become an “accomplice in this vile war”.
Last week Zelenskyy said he had invited IOC President Thomas Bach to visit the Ukrainian frontline town of Bakhmut “so that he could see for himself that neutrality does not exist”.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday that of the 71 medals won by Russian participants at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, 45 went to athletes who were members of the Russian Army Central Sports Club (CSKA).
“The army that commits atrocities kills, rapes and plunders,” Kuleba said. “That’s who the ignorant IOC wants to put under (the) white flag for (they) to compete.”
Meanwhile, Latvia’s Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said on Tuesday that his country opposes any participation of Russian athletes in the Paris Olympics, saying it is “immoral and wrong”.
After meeting his counterparts from the Baltic States and Poland in Riga, Rinkevics called for Russia to be isolated as long as it continued its offensive in Ukraine.
“Like all tyrannies, it uses sport for political purposes. The IOC should not be complicit in Russian propaganda efforts,” Rinkevics said.
However, the Asian Olympic Council last week offered Russian and Belarusian athletes the opportunity to compete at this year’s Asian Games, arguing that “all athletes, regardless of nationality or passport, should be able to compete in sports.” .
This was a significant step as it would allow athletes from these two countries to reach the qualifying standards they would need to compete in Paris.
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.