Thomas Bach “shares the grief and human suffering” of Ukrainian athletes, but considers calls to boycott the Olympics “contradictory to the principles that the IOC upholds.”

The president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, said that he shares the “grief, human suffering” of Ukrainian athletes, but called Ukraine’s calls to boycott the Olympic Games as contrary to the “principles that the IOC upholds.”

As France 24 reports, Bach said this on the sidelines of the World Ski Championship, commenting on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions.

“Ukrainian athletes know how much we share their grief, their human suffering and all the efforts we are making to help them (after the full-scale Russian invasion)… And governments should not decide who can participate in any sporting events. it would be the end of international sports competitions, world championships and the Olympic Games,” he said.

The President of the IOC called Ukraine’s calls to boycott the Games as contrary to the “principles we stand for.”

“Our mission is the mission of the world. History will show who does more for the world, those who try to maintain openness and communication, or those who want to isolate and divide… Our role is to bring people together. We try to find solutions , which will do justice to the mission of sport, which is to unite so as not to contribute to further confrontation and escalation,” Bach said.

He added that the IOC is fully in solidarity with Ukrainian athletes, supports them regardless of whether they are in Ukraine or abroad.

We support 3,000 members of the Ukrainian Olympic community to have a strong Ukrainian team in Paris at the 2024 Olympic Games. athletes, we have to fulfill our peacekeeping mission, and this is a unifying mission – to unite people,” continued the head of the IOC.

According to him, the IOC and the international community should consider the “serious concern” of the UN Human Rights Council that the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes “only because of their passports is a violation of their rights.”

Ukraine threatens to boycott the Olympics because of Russian athletes

As reported, on January 26, the International Olympic Committee announced that it will consider the issue of admitting Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competitions. But only for those who do not support Russian aggression and under the condition of speaking under a neutral flag.

President Zelensky appealed to French President Macron to do everything possible to prevent Russian athletes from participating in the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The Verkhovna Rada also calls on the IOC not to allow Russians to the 2024 Olympics in Paris.