Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Ukraine will start global effort to prevent Russia from participating in Paris 2024 Olympics

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy does not want Russian athletes to be a part of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
• Ukraine will boycott from participating if Russian and Belarusian athletes competed.
• Russia says any attempt to exclude Moscow from international sport is “doomed to fail”.

According to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine will start a global effort to stop Russian athletes from being admitted to the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Earlier, Ukraine’s sports minister, Vadim Guttsait, stated that if Russian and Belarusian athletes competed, Ukraine would not rule out boycotting the Games. In some sports, they have been outlawed, while in others, they are permitted to compete under a neutral flag.

The Olympic Council of Asia reportedly gave Russian and Belarusian athletes the possibility to compete in Asia, providing them with a qualification track for the Paris Olympics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), keen to see them back in important contests, announced this on Wednesday.

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“Today we will a start a marathon for a fair play aimed at clearing the management of international Olympic structures of hypocrisy as well as (preventing) any attempts to drag representatives of the terrorist state into world sport,” Zelenskiy said in a video address.

“It is obvious that any neutral flag of Russian athletes would be stained with blood … Olympic principles and war are fundamentally opposed to each other.”

The IOC is eager to have athletes from Belarus and Russia compete as neutrals at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Any attempt to exclude Moscow from international sport, according to Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, is “doomed to fail.”

Zelenskiy expressed his dissatisfaction with the remarks made by IOC President Thomas Bach. Zelenskiy informed Bach last month that he was opposed to the idea of Russian athletes competing in the 2024 Summer Olympics under any kind of neutral banner.

Numerous sporting organizations have relocated competitions and suspended Russian teams or athletes since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and sponsors have terminated agreements in opposition to the conflict.

“Russian strikes have claimed the lives of hundreds of Ukrainians who could have enriched world sport with their talent,” said Zelenskiy.

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