IOC says Baltic States’ calls to bar Russia from Olympics disregard human rights

Recent appeals by the Baltic States to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris do not take human rights into consideration, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said in a statement on Wednesday.

On February 10, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports of Lithuania announced that over 30 countries supported Vilnius in its intention to prevent Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Sports Ministers from Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, the United States, France, Japan, the Nordic countries and the Baltic States were among those who supported Lithuania's initiative. Sports ministers representing 36 countries attended the global summit that day.

"There have been some statements showing concern, in particular from the Baltic countries and some others," the IOC statement reads. "Unfortunately, what they have not addressed are the human rights concerns."

"There, we do not have an answer. However, we have to take them seriously into consideration. In the end, it is not up to governments to decide who can take part in sporting competitions because that would be the end of international sports competitions, World Championships and the Olympic Games as we know them," according to the IOC’s statement.

"We are taking all this into consideration. We are looking into finding a solution that does justice to the mission of sport, which is to unify, not to contribute to more confrontation or more escalation," the IOC added..............https://tass.com/sport/1576903