[1/2]A view through a fence shows the headquarters of the Russian Olympic Committee in Moscow, Russia, October 13, 2023. The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) has been banned by the International Olympic Committee because it recognizes regional organizations from four territories annexed by Ukraine, it said it. .. Purchase license rights. Read more
MUMBAI, Oct 12 (Portal) – The Russian Olympic Committee was banned with immediate effect on Thursday for recognizing regional organizations from four territories annexed by Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee said.
The IOC added that the ROC would not be eligible for funding after recognizing Olympic councils from the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions earlier this month, but that this would not affect Russian athletes competing as neutrals.
“The unilateral decision of the Russian Olympic Committee of October 5, 2023 to accept as its members the regional sports organizations under the authority of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine (namely Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia). constitutes a violation of the Olympic Charter,” the IOC said in a statement.
“…it violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine, as recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in accordance with the Olympic Charter.”
The IOC Executive Board will meet in Mumbai ahead of the IOC meeting on October 15-17.
Thursday’s ruling will not affect the IOC’s decision on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the 2024 Paris Olympics, which will be made at a later date.
“The suspension of the ROC has no impact on the participation of independent athletes,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said at a news conference.
While Ukraine welcomed the move, the Russian Olympic Committee called it counterproductive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the decision reflected the need for universal respect for the “territorial integrity of nations and the UN Charter.”
“And if someone in Russia thinks they can use sport and the Olympic movement as a weapon, it won’t work,” Zelensky said in his evening video address.
The ROC said it was a politically motivated decision.
“Today the IOC made another counterproductive decision with obvious political motivations,” the ROC said in a statement.
“This ensures de jure what was already done de facto in February 2022,” she added, referring to the ban on Russian athletes imposed by most international sports federations following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The IOC had not imposed sanctions on the Russian or Belarusian Olympic Committees or Russian IOC members since Moscow’s invasion in 2022, but banned athletes from those countries in the first months after what Moscow described as a “special military operation.”
However, in March, the IOC issued an initial set of recommendations to international sports federations to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to return and compete as individual athletes without a flag, emblem or anthem.
The IOC has said athletes should not be punished for actions by governments.
Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly and Karolos Grohmann; Additional reporting by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber and Yuliia Dysa in Gdansk; Writing by Karolos Grohmann; Edited by Ken Ferris and Christian Radnedge
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