MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2022) The European Olympic Committees (EOC) banned Ukrainian and Swedish sports officials from making political statements when they attempted to speak against Russian and Belarusian athletes during an EOC seminar in Greece via videolink, the committees' president, Spyros Capralos, said.
Sweden's Peter Reinebo and Ukraine's Alla Tarasiuk were stopped short by the meeting's moderators as Capralos had warned in the beginning of the seminar that any political statement would be "strictly prohibited. Reinebo had begun citing a joint statement of Nordic countries on the "unacceptability" of letting Russian and Belarusian athletes return to international sports.
"I am sorry, we said very clearly that it was a decision of their participation from the IOC (International Olympic Committee) Executive board and also regarding the discussion about Russia and Belarus and Ukraine, and all other things that have a political connotation, we are not going to discuss it, and I expressed it very clearly in my opening remarks," Capralos was quoted as saying by the Inside the Games sports news portal.
The seminar is being held from Friday to Saturday.
IOC chief Thomas Bach said on Friday that Russian athletes who did not support the special military operation in Ukraine should be allowed to participate in international competitions in a neutral status. Those athletes who distanced themselves from the Russian government's decisions on Ukraine should be able to compete under a neutral flag, and the IOC's goal is to return athletes with a Russian passport who do not support hostilities to participate in competitions.
The special military operation in Ukraine has prompted a slew of foreign sanctions against Russia, including its athletes. A group of 35 countries have called for even tougher sanctions for Russian and Belarusian sports associations and officials, demanding their removal from senior positions in international sports federations.
On February 28, the IOC issued a recommendation to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from international competitions or only allow them to compete in neutral status.
