The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has deprived London of competing in new Olympic sports ahead of the 2024 Games in Paris, the Times reports. The UK capital was due to host the Olympic qualifying tournament for breakdancing, skateboarding, sport climbing and BMX freestyle next June.

The IOC Executive Board has informed the British Olympic Association (BOA) that it will no longer consider London as a venue and is now exploring other alternatives in Europe for this qualifying series.

"We are extremely disappointed that we have not been able to deliver the Olympic qualifying series as we wanted. This is particularly frustrating for those British athletes who are now missing out on the home arena advantage and the support of the home crowd," commented the BOA representative.

The IOC decision is linked to the British government's position on Russia: in order to participate in competitions on the territory of Great Britain, athletes from Russia and RB need to sign a personal declaration of neutrality, as well as declare that they do not support the war in Ukraine. Athletes must also declare that they will not support Russian President Vladimir Putin and they are not funded by the Russian government.

The IOC insists that government policies regarding public funding discriminate against relatively unknown athletes in smaller sports, even if they claim to be neutral.

The IOC's position is also that such statements could put athletes in a difficult position when they return to Russia. In the Russian Federation, opposition to war is a potential criminal offense.

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