IOC boss Bach says Ukraine 'flag will fly high' at Olympics
Olympics
chief Thomas Bach on Sunday said the organisation would ensure that Ukrainian
athletes could compete at the 2024 Games despite the Russian invasion.
Speaking
during a visit to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Bach
pledged to increase the amount of IOC funding for athletes from the war-torn
nation.
That
will ensure that at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 and at the Olympic Winter
Games in 2026 in Cortina-Milano, "the Ukrainian flag will fly high",
said Bach.
"The
IOC will triple the fund we have been establishing at the very beginning of the
Russian invasion in Ukraine from $2.5 million to $7.5 million," he added.
Zelensky
welcomed the additional support.
"The
Russian invasion has become a cruel shock for the Ukrainian sports," he
said, speaking after his meeting with Bach.
"A
lot of Ukrainian athletes joined the Ukrainian armed forces to defend our
country, to defend it on the battlefield.
"Eighty
nine athletes and coaches died as the result of the military combat. Thirteen
are captured and are in the Russian captivity."
The
IOC responded to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February by recommending that
international sports federations ban Russian and Belarusian athletes.
Bach
said that the IOC would not be changing its position.
"We
also reassured the president (Zelensky) we maintain the position we took at the
very beginning of the war, which is very clear," he said.
"Including
the recommendations towards international federations not to invite Russian and
Belarus athletes to international competitions.
"The
time has not come to lift these recommendations."
Zelensky
welcomed the news.
"It
cannot be allowed that a terrorist state uses sports to promote its political
interests and propaganda.
"While
Russia is trying to destroy the Ukrainian people and conquer other European
countries, its representatives have no place in the world's sports
community."
Among
a raft of sporting sanctions, Russia has been suspended from international
football tournaments, the Russian Formula One Grand Prix was cancelled and
Russian and Belarusian tennis players have been banned from Wimbledon.
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