The International Olympic Committee has issued a statement in which it speaks out against the politicization of sport. In the text they call on “the parties involved in the Olympic Movement and the Governments” to reject their participation in the next Friendship Games, announced for September 2024 in Russia and which arose as a counter response to the traditional Olympic Games that This year they will take place in Paris.

In its letter, the IOC accuses that the sporting event is a “cynical attempt by the Russian Federation to politicize sport.” Based on the Olympic Charter, the International Committee states that the Russian government “plans to organize sporting events in Russia that are purely politically motivated.” Furthermore, they finance the International Friendship Association, organizers of the previously mentioned Games and which at the time of their launch expressed that one of their objectives was to allow “the free participation of Russian athletes.”

It is worth mentioning that the participation of Russian athletes is allowed for the next Olympic Games in Paris, as long as they compete under a neutral flag and reject the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

ANTI-DOPING RULES

On the other hand, the International Olympic Committee emphasized the risk warned by the IOC Athletes Commission that governments could force athletes to participate in the Friendship Games. At the same time, they point out their fear that Anti-Doping Rules are not respected in Russia, a point that was also expressed by the World Anti-Doping Agency after the bad experience at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.