Russian athletes should not compete at 2024 Paris Olympics: Zelensky
Russian
athletes should have "no place" at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky told French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday
as his country marked 11 months of war.
"I
particularly emphasised that athletes from Russia should have no place at the
Olympic Games in Paris," Zelensky wrote on Telegram following a telephone
call with Macron.
Russia
launched its invasion on February 24 last year, just days after the closing
ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The
International Olympic Committee swiftly sanctioned Russia and neighbouring
Belarus, which Moscow's troops used as a launchpad for the assault.
No
international sporting event has been organised in Russia or Belarus since the
outbreak of the conflict and the countries' national symbols have been removed
from such major competitions.
IOC chief
Thomas Bach said last year that he would like to see the sporting sanctions
extended in 2023 and a strong Ukrainian team at the Paris Olympics and the 2026
Winter Olympics in Italy.
Zelensky in
December called for all Russian athletes to be completely isolated from
international competitions.
The
Ukrainian president also told Bach that he fiercely opposed the US Olympic and
Paralympic Committee's view that Russian and Belarusian athletes could compete
at the Paris games as long as they did not bear their countries' flags.
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