1. What the International Olympic Committee (IOC) says

2. What the international and French sports federations are saying

3. The position of the Ukrainian government and athletes

4. In conclusion, our position

​

1. Position of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)

At the end of February 2022, the IOC recommended the exclusion of all Russian and Belarusian athletes from all international competitions. Almost all sports federations followed the IOC's recommendation (notable exceptions included boxing, run by a Russian oligarch and already under scrutiny by the IOC for corruption, and tennis).

Following months of preparing public opinion, the IOC published new recommendations to international sports federations on March 28th :

​

• Athletes holding a Russian or Belarusian passport can only compete as neutral individual athletes .

  • The participation of teams whose athletes hold a Russian or Belarusian passport cannot be considered.

• Athletes who actively support the war are ineligible to compete. Staff members who actively support the war are also ineligible to participate in competitions.

• Athletes under contract with the Russian or Belarusian military or with national security agencies are ineligible to compete. Support staff under contract with the Russian or Belarusian military or with national security agencies are also ineligible to participate in competitions.

• All neutral individual athletes, like other competitors in the running, must meet all applicable anti-doping requirements and, in particular, those set out in the IF anti-doping rules.

• The sanctions imposed on those responsible for the war – the Russian and Belarusian states and governments – must remain in place:

  • No international sporting event should be organised or supported by an IF or an NOC in Russia or Belarus.

  • No flag, anthem, colour or any other identification of any kind from these countries should be present at sporting events or competitions, including at the venue of these events.

  • No representative of the Russian and Belarusian governments or states may be invited or accredited to an international sporting event or meeting.

On July 26, a year before the opening of the Olympics, during the traditional mailing of invitations by the IOC to the National Olympic Committees, the Russian and Belarusian committees were not included . However, the IOC still refuses to make a final decision regarding the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Games, postponing it "to an appropriate date, at its sole discretion, and without being bound by the results of previous qualifying events."

2. Positions of International Federations on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in competitions and the 2024 Olympic Games

At the international level, a dozen have chosen to follow the IOC recommendations, including fencing, judo ( but by cheating at the Doha World Championships in May ), taekwondo, weightlifting, table tennis, archery, climbing, canoeing, rowing, cycling, and more recently gymnastics (on 19/7) and badminton (on 30/08 , for implementation from 26/02/24).

On September 4th, World Aquatics , the international swimming federation, also authorized the participation of Russians and Belarusians in the competitions it organizes, but under stricter conditions than those of the IOC. These include:

• The limitation to only one participant per event

• The ban on athletes AND their entourage speaking to the media throughout the competition (no interviews, no participation in press conferences, not even presence in the mixed zone, where journalists are located)

World Aquatics also further clarifies certain IOC conditions:

• not only are team sports prohibited (artistic swimming, water polo and synchronized diving, which also fall under this Federation, are therefore totally forbidden to Russians and Belarusians), but there are no relay swimming events;

• The requirement of no support for the war in Ukraine targets "in particular public statements, including those on social media, and participation in demonstrations or events in support of the war."

Athletics and equestrian sports continue to exclude any participation from Russians or Belarusians.

In France, at least badminton and swimming (which responded to our letter), as well as fencing , supported the exclusion. Swimming has likely aligned itself with the new position of World Aquatics, which was unanimously approved by its board.

​

The table below summarizes in a simplified manner the official positions regarding the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions as of 18/01/2024.

​

For a detailed table, please refer to the following document.

3. Ukraine's position

Initially, she threatened to boycott the Olympics if Russians and Belarusians participated.

Case of fencing ( the first sport to announce the reintegration of Russians and Belarusians, on 10/3/23 , without even waiting for the IOC's recommendations…):

The Ukrainian Federation initially banned its fencers from participating in competitions that accepted Russians and Belarusians, a ban subsequently extended by the government to all sports , under penalty of sanctions for their federations.

Then participation in such competitions appears to be tolerated, but not in disciplines where Russian or Belarusian fencers compete ( e.g. women's sabre at the European Championships in Bulgaria in June, hence the absence of Olga Kharlan ), even if they theoretically respect the recommendations of the IOC, or forfeit in the event of a draw against one of them (which happened at the World Fencing Championships in Milan, until the decree of 26/7, see below).

Since 26/7 (decree of the Ukrainian Minister of Sports, Vadym Guttsait), free choice of sports federations (or even individual athletes , several were lobbying for this, including the sabre fencer O. Kharlan), provided that Russians and Belarusians respect the recommendations of the IOC , at least concerning the obligation of "neutral banner".

But no decision has been made on Ukrainian participation in the Olympics in the event of Russian and Belarusian participation , according to this interview with Guttsait (which also seems to contradict the decree he published the following day concerning current competitions...).

4. In conclusion: our position on the Olympics

We note that Ukraine's change of position only concerns ongoing competitions, and not the Olympics themselves . It allows Ukrainian athletes to qualify for the Olympics, while maintaining the threat of a boycott – a threat that would cease to exist if no Ukrainian athletes qualified.

Furthermore, we believe it would be unfair to treat Russian and Belarusian athletes who actively opposed their regime in the same way as those who simply remained passive in the face of Ukraine's aggression, or who managed to erase evidence of their involvement.

For us, it's about sanctioning an entire politico-military-sporting system , which goes all the way back to Putin himself, and which is at the heart of his regime: the sportocratura . Any athlete who doesn't denounce it de facto accepts being its propagandist.

​

We therefore maintain our demand more than ever: no Russians and Belarusians at the 2024 Olympics, except for rare stances taken against the war and/or against the regime, and we fully support the sports federations that refuse to reintegrate Russians and Belarusians into the competitions they organize for the time being.