Ukraine launches marathon of honesty against attempts by IOC leadership to 'pull' Russian reps into world sport
Ukraine is launching a marathon of honesty against attempts by the leadership of international Olympic structures to "pull" representatives of a terrorist state into world sport, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
"Today we are starting a marathon of honesty, which will be aimed at clearing the leadership of international Olympic structures from hypocrisy and attempts to 'pull' representatives of a terrorist state into world sports," Zelensky said in a video statement.
He said one cannot help but be disappointed by recent statements by current head of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach in which he said that the IOC would consider the possibility of Russian and Belarusian athletes participating in international competitions as "neutral athletes."
As Zelensky said, he repeatedly spoke with the head of the IOC on this topic, but he never heard how Thomas Bach intends to protect sports from war propaganda if he returns Russian athletes to international competitions.
"There is no neutrality when such a war is going on. And we know how often tyrannies try to use sport for their ideological interests. It is obvious that any neutral banner of Russian athletes is stained with blood," the president said.
He also said he does not want to understand what exactly became the motive for Bach to promote such an initiative, but Ukraine, according to Zelensky, will do everything so that the world protects sports from the political and any other influence of the terrorist state.
"Which [influence] is simply inevitable if Russian athletes participate in competitions. And even more so – in the Paris Olympics," the president said.
He said Ukrainian athletes are forced to defend the lives of their loved ones and the freedom of the Ukrainian people from Russian aggression, while Russian blows take these lives and the lives of those who could enrich world sport with their talent.
"Russia must stop aggression and terror. And only after that it will be possible to talk about Russian participation in the context of the Olympic Movement. Olympic principles and war are fundamentally opposed to one another," Zelensky said.
