DOSB speaks on Paris Olympics as hope rises for Russia, Belarus

 

BERLIN – The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) continues to support the ban for Russian and Belarusian athletes from international sports events in connection with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but will not boycott the Paris Olympics if it is lifted.

“A German team will compete, we are ruling out a boycott due to general concerns,” DOSB president Thomas Weikert said in an interview with Germany’s Funke media group published on late on Monday.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is set to hold a three-day executive board meeting from Tuesday to discuss guidelines on how to deal with Russian and Belarusian athletes in the future.

They have been banned from most major sports events since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than 13 months ago.

The IOC is now looking into the possibility of their return as neutral athletes with their national symbols, including for next year’s Olympics Games in Paris. IOC president Thomas Bach has said that no one should be discriminated against over their passport or country of birth.

More than 30 countries recently called on the IOC to uphold the ban.

The DOSB could “currently not imagine the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes,” Weikert said.

“If the IOC decides otherwise, which seems likely, then we believe that certain conditions must apply for athletes from these countries to start,” he added.

Among other things, members of the Russian military should not be allowed to compete, according to the DOSB president. In addition, the athletes who are allowed to compete should not be allowed to wear national symbols and colours.

The 61-year-old fears that the participation of Russian athletes in the 2024 Paris Olympics could be misused for propaganda purposes. “Preventing this must be the primary goal of any authorization,” Weikert stressed.