The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that athletes from Belarus and Russia would not be permitted to take part in the parade of nations at the opening ceremony of the Paris Games.
The athletes, who will compete for a neutral flag in the Games, “will not participate in the parade of delegations and teams during the opening ceremony since they are individual athletes,” IOC director James McLeod stated following an executive board meeting held in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Tuesday.
According to McLeod, they had not decided whether or not to take part in the closing ceremony.
The IOC decision has not gone down well with the Kremlin. On Wednesday, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the move amounted to the destruction of the Olympic idea.
“Of course, this is absolutely contrary to the entire ideology of the Olympic movement, and this does not paint the IOC in a good light,” he said.
Athletes from Belarus and Russia who make it to the Games won’t be wearing their national anthems or flags. Athletes from both nations were prohibited from competing in numerous major athletic events in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.If they are not in favor of the war and are not connected to Russia’s armed forces or security services, the IOC is now permitting them to participate in individual sports.Twelve Russians and seven Belarusians have qualified for the Games thus far, and McLeod predicted that two dozen Belarusians and thirty-six Russians would eventually make it. But the IOC’s evaluation of each athlete will determine whether or not they can compete in the end.Russian fencer against war wants to represent the US at the Olympics
