Team GB 'unlikely' to support Olympics boycott over Russian athletes

04 February 2023 , 18:56

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The International Olympic Committee have decided to "explore a pathway" to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at next year's Games (Image: David J Phillip/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

Team GB are reportedly unlikely to support a boycott of the 2024 Paris Olympics over plans to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at the Games amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced last month that they had decided to "explore a pathway" for athletes from both countries to compete under a neutral flag, declaring that "no athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport".

Global sports ministers are set to hold a virtual meeting next week to consider a response to the IOC's plans and Poland's sports minister Kamil Bortniczuk claimed that a number of countries, including the UK, could boycott the Olympics altogether and "make holding the Games pointless."

However, the Daily Mail report that Team GB are unlikely to take part in a boycott, stating that 'it is expected they will ultimately accept the IOC's stance'. It comes after the UK's Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan criticised the IOC's plans, describing them as "a world away from the reality of war".

"In light of the ongoing indiscriminate and barbaric attacks by Russia on Ukraine, over the past 24 hours the United States and Germany have announced they will be providing a significant number of battle tanks," Donelan told the House of Commons.

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"We welcome this support as part of accelerating efforts to secure lasting peace for Ukraine. At this critical time, the International Olympic Committee is now looking at a pathway for Russia and Belarus to be represented in Paris.

Russian president Vladimir Putin (right) and IOC president Thomas Bach pictured in 2016 (Mikhail Klimentyev/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

"I want to be clear that this position from the IOC is a world away from the reality of war being felt by the Ukrainian people – and IOC president Bach's own words less than a year ago where he strongly condemned Russia for breaking the Olympic Truce and urged it to 'give peace a chance'.

"We will strongly condemn any action taken that allows President Putin to legitimise his illegal war in Ukraine – a position the IOC previously shared. We, and many other countries, have been unequivocal on this throughout, and we will now work urgently across like-minded countries to ensure that solidarity continues on this issue."

The IOC have hit back at threats of a boycott, stating: "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."

Matthew Cooper