{"id":52133,"date":"2023-12-14T21:17:27","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T21:17:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/bach-defends-move-to-allow-russians-belarusians-at-paris-games"},"modified":"2023-12-14T21:50:24","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T21:50:24","slug":"bach-defends-move-to-allow-russians-belarusians-at-paris-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/bach-defends-move-to-allow-russians-belarusians-at-paris-games","title":{"rendered":"Bach defends move to allow Russians, Belarusians at Paris Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. <\/strong><\/span>The International Olympic Committee (IOC) head, Thomas Bach, has defended a decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics as neutrals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndividual athletes cannot be punished for the acts of their governments,\u201d he said at a forum in Geneva, Switzerland.<\/p>\n

Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. This was, he said, \u201cone war among 28 wars and conflicts going on in this world and all the other athletes are competing peacefully with each other\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last week, the IOC said individual athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus who had qualified for the Paris Summer Games would be allowed to compete without flags, emblems or anthems of their countries.<\/p>\n

The athletes had been earlier barred from taking part. That ban remains in force for teams representing the two nations.<\/p>\n

The IOC added that athletes and support personnel who actively supported Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine must remain excluded.<\/p>\n

It also reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Ukrainian athletes \u201cin every way possible, to see a strong team from the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine at the Olympic Games Paris 2024\u201d.<\/p>\n

Olympic sports federations had asked the IOC to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete but with no affiliation to their nations.<\/p>\n

This was despite several countries \u2014 including the US and UK \u2014 calling for an all-out ban amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Ukraine itself suggested it might boycott the games, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying Russian athletes \u201ccannot be covered up with some pretended neutrality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bach dismissed the threats of a boycott, saying countries that disagree \u201care allowed to have different political opinions\u201d.<\/p>\n

The president of the IOC was one of the speakers at the forum\u2019s discussion on how sport can help refugees.<\/p>\n

He announced a pledge of $45m (Sh6.9bn) to help half a million refugees and an additional pledge of $50m (Sh7.6bn) for the refugee Olympic team at Paris 2024.<\/p>\n

Other ongoing conflicts include Israel\u2019s war with Hamas in Gaza and civil wars in Sudan and Myanmar.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mozambique<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) head, Thomas Bach, has defended a decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics as neutrals. \u201cIndividual athletes cannot be punished for the acts of their governments,\u201d he said at a forum in Geneva, Switzerland. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":52132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233,281,283],"class_list":["post-52133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mozambique","tag-mozambique"],"yoast_head":"\nBach defends move to allow Russians, Belarusians at Paris Games - Mozambique<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The International Olympic Committee (IOC) head, Thomas Bach, has defended a decision to allow Russian and Belarusian ath ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/bach-defends-move-to-allow-russians-belarusians-at-paris-games\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bach defends move to allow Russians, Belarusians at Paris Games\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The International Olympic Committee (IOC) head, Thomas Bach, has defended a decision to allow Russian and Belarusian ath ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/bach-defends-move-to-allow-russians-belarusians-at-paris-games\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mozambique\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-14T21:17:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-14T21:50:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2023\/12\/sm_1702577872.618681.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"697\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/bach-defends-move-to-allow-russians-belarusians-at-paris-games#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/bach-defends-move-to-allow-russians-belarusians-at-paris-games\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Bach defends move to allow Russians, Belarusians at Paris Games\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-14T21:17:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-14T21:50:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/bach-defends-move-to-allow-russians-belarusians-at-paris-games\"},\"wordCount\":353,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/bach-defends-move-to-allow-russians-belarusians-at-paris-games#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2023\/12\/sm_1702577872.618681.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mozambique\",\"Mozambique\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/bach-defends-move-to-allow-russians-belarusians-at-paris-games#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/bach-defends-move-to-allow-russians-belarusians-at-paris-games\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/bach-defends-move-to-allow-russians-belarusians-at-paris-games\",\"name\":\"Bach defends move to allow Russians, Belarusians at Paris Games - 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