Olympic Games 2024: The first country of Europe refused to speak with the Russians and Belarusians

In Latvia, they are going to contact international sports federations to achieve the removal of athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in the Olympic Games. Latvia refuses to participate in the Olympic Games with Belarus and Russia. This was stated by the President of the Latvian Olympic Committee (LOC) Georges Tikmer, Delfi writes.

According to Ticker, the position of Latvia is that if the Olympic games were held now, the Latvian athletes would have abandoned the competition, since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed Belarusians and Russians to participate. "We hope that the war will end, Ukraine will win. It will be a completely new situation and new rules of the game. Of course, in this case, Latvian athletes will also be able to participate in such Olympic Games," Tikmer said.

The publication writes that LOC is going to offer Latvia sports federations to contact the international community with a call to prevent Russians and Belarusians to participate in the qualification competitions of the Olympiad. However, according to journalists, the IOC has a different opinion. They believe that governments should not decide what athletes can compete and which one cannot do.

During the consultation, the Committee members concluded that no athlete can be forbidden to participate in the Olympic Games, based on his civilian affiliation. However, it is reported that the IOC suggested that Belarusians and Russians could perform under a neutral flag and not represent the federation of their countries. This is the case in many professional sports leagues in Europe, the United States and Canada.

In addition, athletes can participate if they are fully observed by the Olympic Charter. First of all, this concerns condemnation or at least not support the war of Russia against Ukraine. It is also a compliance with the World Anti -Doping Code and other anti -doping rules. It is reported that if the athletes do not comply with these conditions, then international federations and organizers of the competition can remove them from participation.

Earlier, Focus wrote that the IOC rejected criticism of the admission of the Russians to the Olympics. According to OP Mikhail Podolyak, the participation of Russian athletes in the upcoming Olympiad is a "genocide advertisement" and encouragement of further crimes by the Russian Federation.