The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) supports efforts to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, provided they do not compete under their country’s colors or flag.
USOPC Chair Susanne Lyons said in a conference call Monday that the “fabric” of the Olympic movement would be in jeopardy if athletes weren’t given the opportunity to start as neutrals.
“There has been a lot of debate as to whether athletes who happen to be born in Russia and Belarus and hold passports from those countries have the opportunity to compete as clean and neutral athletes,” Lyons said, looking back at a gathering of senior officials under the umbrella of the International Olympic Committees (IOC) last Friday: “There is a great desire for this to happen over time, because our task is to bring the world together in peace through sport.”
The ban was “difficult for the movement to tolerate,” Lyons continued. They want to avoid a return to boycotts like those of the Cold War. “Then the fabric of the Olympic and Paralympic movements falls apart very quickly,” she said.
At this year’s Winter Games in Beijing in February, Russian athletes were only allowed to compete under the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) due to previous massive doping violations. However, the “neutrals” competed in uniforms in the colors of the Russian flag.
After Russia, supported by Belarus, attacked Ukraine days after the Beijing Games ended, athletes from both nations were banned from international competitions in numerous sports.
IOC President Thomas Bach recently spoke of a “serious dilemma”, underlining the fact that the sanctions against both sporting nations are currently being adhered to. At the Olympic Summit, however, he expressly praised the “creative initiative” of the Asian Olympic Committees to open the competitions to athletes from Russia and Belarus under certain sanctions.
Lyons said Russian athletes could only be allowed to compete if they wore “strictly neutral” uniforms. Olympic officials would also look for ways to screen athletes for political integrity. They want to make sure they don’t support the Russian conflict in Ukraine. However, Lyons said it was “impossible” to say.