Olympic chiefs warn Ukraine against boycotting Paris 2024 after Zelensky claim

03 February 2023 , 13:12

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President Zelensky has slammed the possible inclusion of Russian athletes at Paris 2024 (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Olympic chiefs have warned besieged Ukraine that any Paris 2024 boycott would be a 'violation of the Olympic charter' amid major backlash over the possible inclusion of Russian athletes.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) are "exploring a pathway" to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus - whose troops are actively invading Ukraine - to compete under a neutral flag at next summer's Games.

That decision has left Ukrainian leaders disgusted with President Volodymyr Zelensky adamant that the IOC cannot create any neutrality in sport by opening the door to Russian and Belarusian athletes.

President Zelensky claimed allowing them to compete on the global stage would be like 'tell the whole world that terror is somehow acceptable."

And Ukraine's sports minister Vadim Guttsait said: "If we are not heard, I do not rule out the possibility that we will boycott and refuse participation in the Olympics."

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But in a lengthy document published on Thursday, the IOC slammed the threats made by Ukraine and and insisted a boycott would only punish their own athletes.

"'It is extremely regretful to escalate this discussion with a threat of a boycott at this premature stage," the IOC said. "Threatening a boycott of the Olympic Games, which the NOC of Ukraine is currently considering, goes against the fundamentals of the Olympic movement and the principles it stands for.

"A boycott is a violation of the Olympic charter, which obliges all NOCs to 'participate in the Games of the Olympiad by sending athletes'. As history has shown, previous boycotts did not achieve their political ends and served only to punish the athletes of the boycotting NOCs."

The IOC insisted a boycott would punish Ukrainian athletes (Getty Images)

The IOC also responded to the claims from Ukraine's presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak that the organisation is a 'promoter of war, murder and destruction'.

"The IOC rejects in the strongest possible terms defamatory statements of this kind made by some Ukrainian officials," the response read. "They are totally unacceptable and cannot serve as a basis for any constructive discussion."

The IOC's response comes after Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia also all condemned their plans to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete under a neutral flag.

Ben Parsons