Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky internationally condemns the IOC as a ‘promoter of war’

Volodymyr Zelensky internationally condemns the IOC for considering the participation of Russian athletes in Paris Olympics 2024.


Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky internationally condemns the IOC as a ‘promoter of war’

Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, has now internationally condemned the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for being ‘promoters of war.’ This comes just a few days after the Ukrainian President urged Emmanuel Macron and the world community to prohibit Russian athletes from all events or junctures of international relevance.

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The aide of the Ukrainian President, Mykhaylo Podolyak, said on Monday that the International Olympic Committee is a ‘promoter of war’ for refusing to work upon Zelensky’s request to ban Russian athletes from the Paris Olympics 2024.

Interestingly, Russia is already banned from the Olympics since 2019, when the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) uncovered one of the biggest state-sponsored doping scandals in the country. Since then, Russian athletes have represented the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and not the Russian flag in the Olympics.

Related: Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky suggests the exclusion of Russian athletes from the Paris Olympics 202

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Volodymyr Zelensky’s office makes a big claim on the IOC calling them ‘promoters of war’

Russian athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics [Credits: The Guardian]

In a Twitter post, Mykhalo Podolyak, the personal aide of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made some huge claims on behalf of his President. He writes, “(The) IOC is a promoter of war, murder and destruction. The IOC watches with pleasure Russia destroying Ukraine and then offers Russia a platform to promote genocide and encourages their further killings

He further adds that “Russian money buys Olympic hypocrisy”, and further questions the IOC head Thomas Bach on not being sensitive to the Ukrainian blood being spilled. Previously, Zelensky, in his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, said that Russian participation in the Olympics would very well amount to terror being acceptable by the International community.

Ukrainian minister Dmytro Kuleba claims that of the 71 gold medals won by Russia in the Olympics, 45 of them were won by personnels from the Centrals Sports Club of the Russian Army or the CSKA. On that note, Kuleba writes, “The army that commits atrocities, kills, rapes, and loots,” Kuleba said. “This is whom the ignorant IOC wants to put under (the) white flag allowing (them) to compete.”

The Olympic Councils of several regions, including Asia and the United States, have been of consideration that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be allowed to participate without representing their flag. This poses a huge dilemma in the intermingling of politics and sports.

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In no way are athletes responsible for the actions of a particular regime with political aims attached to them. Russian or Ukrainian athletes have always focused on being the best at their sport and bringing accolades to their home country. Many consider banning athletes from events morally unjust to their careers and personal achievements.

The IOC recognizes the international federations of each country to be the sole authority of the Olympics in their country. So, in this case, the ROC, a reasonably neutral body in the case of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, will be the sole representative of the Russians in the Olympics. The body does not represent Kremlin in any form or manner and is an athletic body to give Russian athletes an avenue at the highest juncture of athletics in the world.

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