Final Request for Russian and Belarusian Athletes to Attend the IOC Games in Paris in 2024

When IOC President Thomas Bach met with Emmanuel Macron, the preparations for the Olympics in 2018 and the participation of teams from Russia and Belarus in Paris 2024 were the primary subjects of conversation.

Both leaders emphasized that the decision about the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes would be left to the IOC, to be made at a later date, even as they expressed their unwavering support to the organizing committee for the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.

At the Elysee Palace in Paris on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron received IOC President Thomas Bach.

The two presidents spoke on the excellent progress being made in the preparations for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The Organising Committee and its President, Olympic champion Tony Estanguet, who also attended the meeting, had complete support from Presidents Bach and Macron, the IOC said in a statement late on Thursday.

The Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 will usher in a new era by fully implementing the changes outlined in the Olympic Agenda 2020 and Olympic Agenda 2020+5.

“At these Games, the term ‘wide open’ will really come to life. According to the IOC, the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 will be the most diverse, urban, youthful, environmentally friendly, and gender-balanced in Olympic history, with complete parity of female and male athletes.

President Bach commended President Macron for the recent G7 Summit statement in Hiroshima, Japan, regarding the autonomy of sport and the requirements for the participation of athletes with Russian or Belarussian passports, in line with the corresponding IOC guidelines.

Additionally, they reiterated that the IOC will decide whether to allow these athletes to compete in the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 and that they will continue to cooperate in this regard, according to the IOC.

Due to the conflict in Ukraine, the IOC has now expelled Russia and Belarus from the Olympic movement. Under the IOC banner, athletes from Russia and Belarus competed in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The IOC will let athletes from the two nations to compete as neutrals, but has not yet removed the ban of the two National Olympic Committees.