(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Bloomberg
Washington: Athletes from Russia and Belarus should not compete under their nation's flags or hear their national anthems played during medal presentations during the upcoming Olympics in Paris because of the invasion of Ukraine, the White House said on Thursday.
'In cases where sports organizations and event organizers - such as the International Olympic Committee - choose to permit athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in sporting events, it should be absolutely clear that they are not representing the Russian or Belarusian states,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Thursday.
The statement aligns the US with sanctions announced by the IOC, which barred the flag, anthem, and or wearing of country colors by athletes from Russia or Belarus, and banned state officials from the games.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has asked the IOC and French government to exclude Russian athletes from the games, saying their participation would effectively endorse the invasion of his country.
'There is no such thing as neutrality when a war like this is going on,” Zelenskiy said in a speech last week. 'And we know how often tyrannies try to use sports for their ideological interests. It is obvious that any neutral flag of Russian athletes is stained with blood.”
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