The British government has written to the partners of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), asking them to pressure the IOC on the issue of allowing Russian athletes to participate in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, The Guardian reports
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th March, 2023) The British government has written to the partners of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), asking them to pressure the IOC on the issue of allowing Russian athletes to participate in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, The Guardian reports.
On January 25, the executive committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it might allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics under a neutral flag. Ukraine condemned the committee's stance and threatened to boycott the Games. Over 30 countries have opposed the idea of allowing Russians and Belarusians to compete.
"As long as our concerns and the substantial lack of clarity and concrete detail on a workable 'neutrality' model are not addressed, we do not agree that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be allowed back into competition," UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lucy Frazer said in a letter quoted by The Guardian on Saturday.
According to the newspaper, Frazer has asked the UK chief executives of the IOC's partners such as Coca-Cola, Intel, Samsung and Visa, to press the IOC over concerns it has over the potential easing of the ban on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Games.
On February 18, the European Parliament voted in favor of a resolution condemning the decision of the IOC to consider allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in the Olympic Games. The parliament also called for pressure to be put on the IOC to abandon its openness toward athletes from these two countries.
