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Surprisingly, the Government has backed the decision to allow Russian athletes to compete in Paris 2024, just a year after leading the revolt against the International Olympic Committee’s controversial stance.
Sports Minister Stuart Andrew has written to IOC President Thomas Bach confirming that the UK is now willing to support Russia and Belarus participating as neutrals in this summer’s Games.
It is a major U-turn from the Government’s previous position, when then-Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer chaired a 35-nation summit last spring to pressure the IOC to maintain its ban on hosting athletes from Russia. and Belarus for the war in Ukraine.
Frazer even wrote to Olympic sponsors asking them to support the ban, saying that “as long as Putin continues his barbaric war, Russia and Belarus should not be represented at the Olympic Games.”
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport insisted on Monday night that its position had only softened after seeing the IOC’s strict framework under which individual athletes from the two countries can compete.
The UK government now backs the stance of allowing Russian athletes to compete at Paris 2024.
Sports Minister Stuart Andrew wrote to IOC President Thomas Bach about the UK’s position.
In addition to performing under a neutral flag, any athlete who actively supports the war in Ukraine, or who is contracted to the military, will not be allowed to participate in Paris. Russia and Belarus are also not allowed to participate in any team events.
Any medals won by neutral athletes will not be counted as a collective group in the overall medal count. At the medal ceremonies, a jade green flag will replace the usual ones of Russia and Belarus and a specially written anthem will be played without lyrics.
Federations for each Olympic sport can still decide to ban entry to Russians and Belarusians and some, including Lord Coe’s World Athletics, have done so.
Last month, the IOC announced it expected only about 36 neutral athletes from Russia and 22 from Belarus to qualify for Paris.
The British Olympic Association has long supported the IOC framework, as has host nation France.
But the government’s U-turn comes as a surprise and they apparently wanted to keep it quiet, given that Andrew’s letter to Bach was not initially made public, unlike Frazer’s previous statements.
In a letter to sponsors last year, Frazer said: ‘We know that sport and politics in Russia and Belarus are strongly intertwined, and we are determined that the Russian and Belarusian regimes should not be allowed to use sport for propaganda.
Last year, then-Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer chaired a summit of 35 nations to pressure the IOC to maintain its ban on hosting athletes from Russia and Belarus.
Medals won by neutral athletes will not be counted as a collective group in the general table.
“Until our concerns and the significant lack of clarity and concrete details on a viable ‘neutrality’ model are addressed, we do not agree that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be allowed to compete again.”
Sources believe DCMS’s hardline stance has been impossible to maintain since they supported the All England Club’s decision to allow Russian and Belarusian tennis players to compete at Wimbledon last year as neutrals.