- By Jacob Evans
- BBC News, Geneva
The 2024 Summer Olympics will open in Paris on 26 July and close on 11 August
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) head, Thomas Bach, has defended a decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics as neutrals.
“Individual athletes cannot be punished for the acts of their governments,” he said at a forum in Geneva, Switzerland.
Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
This was, he said, “one war among 28 wars and conflicts going on this world and all the other athletes are competing peacefully with each other”.
Last week, the IOC said individual athletes from Russia and and its ally Belarus who had qualified for the Paris summer games would be allowed to compete without flags, emblems or anthems of their countries.
The athletes had been earlier barred from taking part. That ban remains in force for teams representing the two nations.
The IOC added that athletes and support personnel who actively supported Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine must remain excluded.
It also reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Ukrainian athletes “in every way possible, in order to see a strong team from the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine at the Olympic Games Paris 2024”.
Mr Bach was speaking exclusively to the BBC at the UN Global Refugee Forum in Geneva on Wednesday.
Olympic sports federations had asked the IOC to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete but with no affiliation to their nations.
Mr Bach dismissed the threats of a boycott, saying countries that disagree “are allowed to have different political opinions”.
The president of the IOC was one of the speakers at the forum’s discussion on how sport can help refugees.
He announced a pledge of $45m (£36m) to help half a million refugees and an additional pledge of $50m for the refugee Olympic team at Paris 2024.
Additional reporting by Jannat Jalil, BBC News.
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
