Open Letter to the IOC: Urgent Call for Fair and Transparent Enforcement of Olympic Selection Criteria

Global Athlete’s statement scrutinizing the International Olympic Committee’s failures ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

This ban is both deceptive and ineffectual, as the sole punitive measure that could truly bridle Russia, its ongoing aggression and its broader geopolitical strategies remains to be ‘decided’ – whether Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. However, the IOC has already made clear, through its statements and actions, that a decision has already been contrived to welcome these athletes to Paris.

Open Letter to the International Olympic Committee. Athletes call on the IOC to suspend Russia and Belarus from international sport.

Over 300 International Fencers Call on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Fencing Federation (FIE) to Uphold the Ban on Russia and Belarus.

Last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) sent a letter to the President of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine, Mr Vadaym Guttsait, attempting to justify Russia’s invitation to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. In the letter, the IOC told Ukraine that threatening to boycott the Olympic Games would be a violation of the Olympic Charter and would result in a sanction. The IOC’s inverted stance toward the aggressor and the victim of this war flouts the Olympic Charter and undermines peace.

Today’s decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in qualifiers to attend the 2024 Paris Olympic Games sends a message to the world that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) endorses Russia’s brutal war and invasion of Ukraine. By allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete, the IOC is strengthening Russia’s propaganda machine, empowering the Putin regime, and undermining peace.

Russian and Belarusian Athletes must be banned from all international sporting events until Russia fully withdraws from Ukraine. The IOC holds significant responsibility to ensure that international sport is not a stage for Russian foreign policy and must enact on this clear breach of Human Rights and the Olympic Charter.

Ukrainian Athletes to call on you in your leadership capacity of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to immediately suspend the Russian and Belarusian National Olympic and Paralympic Committees. Any suspension must also include the banning of all athletes from international sport, including the 2022 Beijing Paralympic Games.