IOC approves participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus with conditions including no support for war Ukraine raises issues with three people, including Russian Taekwondo representative Vladislav Larin

Russian Vladislav Larin won the gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

The French daily Liberation reported on the 21st (local time) that Ukraine raised objections to some Russian athletes who were allowed to participate in this year's Paris Olympics due to 'personal neutral status'.

Earlier this month, about 200 Ukrainian athletes sent a joint letter to French President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Olympic Organizing Committee Chairman Tony Estange, claiming that at least three Russian athletes who qualified for the Paris Olympics violated neutrality.

In early December last year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed the criteria for participation in the Paris Olympics for athletes from Russia, which invaded Ukraine, and Belarus, a supporter of the invasion.

Athletes from both countries can participate only as 'individual neutral players', and there are conditions that they must not be related to their country's military activities and must not actively express support for the war in Ukraine.

Participating in team competitions, using one's national flag, or playing the national anthem are prohibited in competitions.

The IOC announced that as of December last year, there were eight Russian athletes and three Belarusian athletes who met these conditions.

Ukrainian players, however, pointed out the issue of violation of neutrality, saying, "At least three of them openly support the war, as can be seen from information published on the Internet."

A representative example is Vladislav Larin, the representative of Russian Taekwondo.Larin is a Russian national team athlete who won a gold medal in the men's over 80kg weight class at the Tokyo Olympics in Japan three years ago.

Anton Gerashenko, an aide to Ukraine's Interior Minister, claimed on social media

In a video posted on YouTube in August last year, Larin also urged, “Let’s support and unite those mobilized to protect our country.”

In addition to Larin, the Ukrainian sports community is also raising questions about Russian wrestlers Zaurbek Sidakov and Zaur Ughev.The two are also gold medalists at the Tokyo Olympics.

The Ukrainian side took issue with the fact that the two attended a concert celebrating the 8th anniversary of the annexation of Crimea held at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on March 18, 2022.

Sidakov also 'liked' several social media posts supporting the invasion of Ukraine.

Liberation pointed out that in addition to these players, there is a possibility that several players who are close to obtaining the right to participate could be caught up in the 'neutrality' dispute in this way.

In particular, Liberation predicted that neutrality could be different depending on how the expression 'active' mentioned by the IOC is interpreted.

The IOC told Liberation, "We will form an independent expert committee in the future to verify that each athlete has not violated our standards."

The IOC's approval of 'neutral individual athletes' to participate is met with opposition from both Russia and Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba previously wrote in " he criticized.

Russian President Vladimir Putin harshly criticized the IOC decision, calling it "ethnic discrimination."Russian swimming star Yevgeny Lilov and others declared their refusal to participate in the Paris Olympics in protest. 19가이드03