Russian and Belarusian athletes will remain “excluded” from international athletics competitions for the foreseeable future, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said Thursday.
The position of World Athletics is the result of the conclusions of a working group set up to analyze the situation at a meeting in which the board of the International Athletics Federation (World Athletics) decided to give the Russian federation, which had been suspended for more than seven years, to allow again. due to a widespread state-sponsored doping scandal.
In any case, this advance does not change the participation of Russian athletes in international competitions.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on January 25 recommended that athletes from both countries be allowed back into international competitions, provided they “have not actively supported the war” and act under a neutral flag, but the main Olympic sport continues to close its doors to these athletes, a year and a half away from the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Debates over reintegration have divided the international sports community, with some world federations in favor of return and others reluctant, as have national Olympic committees.
In this regard, between March 28 and March 30, the IOC Executive Committee will decide on sanctions against Russia and Belarus, the status of athletes from both countries and solidarity measures with Ukraine.
The themes, related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, will be discussed in Lausanne, Switzerland, and after consultations by the IOC with its members, national Olympic committees, international federations and athletes, with the aim of expanding the horizon of the next Olympic Games.
Source: DN
