IOC chief echoes call for Russian return during Paris visit / Photo: © AFP
IOC chief echoes call for Russian return during Paris visit
Olympic chief Thomas Bach on Friday echoed his call for the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to competition as individual neutrals after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
Both Bach and Macron discussed the Paris Olympics in 2024, and confirmed that the decision regarding the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes would be "taken in due course by the IOC", according to a statement from the Olympic body.
On Friday, on the sidelines of a meeting with refugee athletes, Bach once again detailed the conditions allowing the return of excluded athletes from international competitions since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
"It's also very clear: no team and no delegations. It's about individual neutral athletes who have to be entered as you can see here at Roland Garros," Bach said of tennis players competing in the French Open.
"No Russian flag, no Russian anthem, no colours, no national identification whatsoever. And this is how these world championships have been working.
"More and more international federations are applying these conditions and this formula. So, at the end, I'm very confident the spirit of sport and this unique fighting spirit will prevail."
Since the IOC's decision in March to advocate the return of Russians and Belarusians, the debate over their reinstatement has remained heated.
Fourteen months before the Paris Olympics, the international federations are not all in agreement on the issue.
P.Johnston--TNT
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