Russia refused to participate in the 2024 Olympics and began to threaten "neutral" athletes with criminal cases

The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) has reminded athletes who agree to compete at the 2024 Games in Paris under a neutral flag that this could lead to a "violation of Russian law" (in Russia, condemnation of the war in Ukraine is called "discrediting the army" and is prosecuted under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - Ed.) This is how the organization assessed the conditions for the admission of Russian representatives to the competition in the French capital.

This is stated on the official Telegram channel of the ROC in response to the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS) to reject the Russians' appeal against their temporary expulsion from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The ROC emphasized that "Russian athletes and officials will not participate in the Games of the XXXIII Olympics in Paris".

"This CAS decision is yet another indication that civil and sporting discrimination against Russians has reached unprecedented proportions on the eve of the Paris Games. As for individual athletes who are still willing to accept the humiliating criteria for possible participation in the Games, even the IOC, is making every effort to minimize the number of invitees. The introduction of new additional elimination parameters cannot be ruled out, as Lausanne has recently explicitly stated. At the same time, agreeing to even the current "compliance" requirements could lead to a violation of Russian law," the ROC said.

As a reminder, in October, the ROC included the sports councils of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions of Ukraine in its membership, which was punished by the IOC. At the 2022 Olympic Games, Russians will compete only in individual events. They must meet strict requirements. In particular, members of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies will not be able to compete for medals in Paris.

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