IOC goes tough on Belarus

Admin l Monday, March 08, 2021

 

BELARUS – The International Olympic Committee(IOC) has  come down really hard on  the National Olympic Committee(NOC) of Belarus over failure of its former president to appropriately protect the Belarusian athletes from political discrimination within the NOC, their member federations or the sports movement.

Consequently the IOC  decided to withhold  recognition  from Mr Viktor Lukashenko as the new President of the NOC of Belarus and the election of Mr Dmitry Baskov as a member of the NOC Executive Board.

IOC decided  to exclude both  Mr Viktor Lukashenko and  Mr Dmitry Baskov from all IOC events and activities, including the Olympic Games and that the IOC will liaise with the NOC and the other members of the newly elected Executive Board through the NOC Secretary General.

The IOC also decided to maintain the other provisional measures taken by the IOC Executive Board on 7 December 2020, as follows:

-“Suspend all financial payments to the NOC of Belarus, with the exception of payments related to the athletes’ scholarships and the preparations of the Belarusian team for, and their participation in, the Olympic Games ; request the relevant International Federations to make sure that all eligible Belarusian athletes can take part in qualification events for the upcoming Olympic Games without any political discrimination.

“Suspend any discussions with the NOC of Belarus regarding the hosting of future IOC events; request all constituents of the Olympic Movement to respect these measures in the interest of protecting Belarusian athletes’ rights and the reputation of the Olympic Movement; to request the NOC of Belarus and its member federations to ensure that there is no political discrimination in the participation of the Belarusian athletes in qualification events, and in the final selection of the team of the NOC of Belarus, for all Olympic Games.

“To not -invite or grant any accreditation to any senior Government official from the Republic of Belarus for Olympic Games”, the IOC said, adding that the  IOC Executive Board will continue to monitor the situation, and reserves the right to consider any further action or to remove any of these provisional measures, depending on the evolution of the situation.