The Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) has announced its decision to give Russians and Belarusians a green light to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games under a neutral flag
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2023) The Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) has announced its decision to give Russians and Belarusians a green light to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games under a neutral flag.
"Members unanimously decided to support the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in all international competitions," ANOCA said in a statement after its executive committee met in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott on Friday.
Kiev and its Western donors called for Russians and Belarusians to be excluded from the games over the conflict in Ukraine, but the International Olympic Committee said in January that no athlete should be barred from joining because of their passport. The Olympic Council of Asia backed that decision.
ANOCA chief Mustapha Berraf also said in the statement that the African organization aligned with the position of the International Olympic Committee and its president, Thomas Bach.
"ANOCA reaffirms its stance that politics cannot bring pressure to bear on sport and strip it of all its core values, which are rooted in peace, unity and solidarity," the statement said, adding athletes must not "be made to pay the heavy price of any conflict whatsoever and wherever it may be."
The African sports governing body, which represents the continent's 54 national Olympic committees, said that its decision would go down in history as an effort to tear down the barriers that exist between politics and sport.
Many sports organizations across the globe have banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in their competitions in response to Moscow's ongoing military operation in Ukraine and Minsk's support for it. The sportsmen have also been barred from competing under national flags and using national anthems at major international sport events, including the Olympics.
