IOC’s Bach says Russian participation in Games ‘works’ regardless of conflict

It has set a path for these rivals to earn Olympic slots by means of Asian qualifying and left it to worldwide federations to resolve on organisation, however Ukraine has threatened to boycott the Paris Games, right here Even being impartial, he has threatened to boycott the Paris Games.

“The participation of athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports in international competitions works,” Bach stated in his tackle initially of a gathering of the IOC’s government board at its headquarters in Lausanne.

“We see this almost every day in many sports, most prominently in tennis but also in cycling in some table tennis competitions.” “We see it ice hockey, handball we see it in soccer and in other leagues in the United States but also in Europe and we see it in other continents,” he stated.

“There are no safety incidents happening in any of these competitions,” he stated.

Russians and Belarusians compete as neutrals in some sports activities. His presence at some occasions, comparable to tennis tournaments, has triggered offended reactions from another athletes.

A dozen international locations boycotted this month’s girls’s world boxing championships in protest at their presence on the occasion, and earlier on Tuesday greater than 300 fencers wrote to Bach asking the IOC to rethink permitting them to return , calling it Russia and Russia a “catastrophic error”. Return to Belarus

Bach stated, “The governments in whose territories the competitions are taking place are issuing visas (to Russian and Belarusian athletes) with very few exceptions, and in other countries they are also issuing work permits for these sportspersons and athletes.” Have been.”

Bach stated that politics can’t be part of sporting occasions and that athletes shouldn’t be penalized for his or her passports.

“We will be unable to give you an answer that pleases everybody. We might must stay with it.