Sport and politics have once again ruled out a German boycott of the Olympics if Russian and Belarusian athletes take part.
This will “not exist. Point. It’s over. The athletes are training for exactly that. That says it all,” emphasized Thomas Weikert, President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), on Tuesday at a public discussion with several sports officials.
Juliane Seifert, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Homeland, made a similar statement: “A boycott is not up for debate.”
However, nothing has changed in the critical attitude towards a possible participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes. “We continue to have a very clear view, which also has broad support in German sport. We will not drop it either. We will continue to have a clear opinion,” said Seifert.
Ukrainian Sports Minister: Boycott is conceivable
Fencer Lea Krüger, member of the executive committee of Athletes Germany, welcomed this attitude. “I think it’s great that they rule out a boycott,” said Krüger, who also appealed to the public in this context: “I would like athletes who want to compete because it’s their dream not to be insulted .”
The Ukrainian Minister of Sport Wadym Hutzajt recently described a boycott of the 2024 Summer Olympics by several nations as conceivable. If the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed athletes from Russia to compete in Paris as neutral athletes and Ukraine then boycotted the Games, “other countries that have suffered from Russian imperialism at different stages of their history , join this boycott,” Hutzajt said in an interview with the AFP news agency in mid-August.
Since Russia launched its war in Ukraine in February 2022, the IOC has imposed sporting sanctions on Moscow and its ally Belarus. However, last March it recommended that Russian and Belarusian players be allowed to compete as individuals in qualifying competitions under a neutral flag and no anthem. A decision on an Olympic approval is still pending.