Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his support for Russian athletes to compete in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, but questioned whether the country should participate if the games are designed to portray Russian sport as “dying”.
Putin made these remarks during his annual year-end press conference.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently announced that Russians and Belarusians who qualify for the Paris Games can participate as neutrals without displaying their national flags, emblems or anthems.
This decision came after the two countries were initially banned from competing internationally following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2020, which Belarus helped facilitate.
While Putin backed Russian athletes’ participation in the games, he emphasised the need to carefully analyse the conditions the IOC put forward.
The Russian President expressed concern that the neutral status could negatively affect the country’s athletes and ultimately be used to depict Russian sports as being in decline.
The IOC has stated that neutral athletes will only be allowed to compete in individual sports, and no teams for Russia or Belarus will be permitted.
Athletes who support the war in Ukraine or are contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military will also be ineligible to participate.
Russia has strongly protested these restrictions, arguing that they go against the spirit of the Games.
Putin echoed these sentiments during his press conference, claiming that the measures being taken by international officials are a “complete contradiction and distortion” of the Olympic movement’s principles.
Putin also warned that if the IOC continues to act similarly, it could ultimately “bury the Olympic movement”.
It’s worth noting that Russian athletes have previously competed in the Olympics without their national flag or anthem due to major doping scandals.
In the past, the Olympics have also been affected by political tensions, with the United States boycotting the 1980 Moscow Olympics in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
The Soviet Union and its allies then boycotted the 1984 Games in Los Angeles in retaliation.
