Paris mayor wants no Russian athletes at 2024 Olympics 'while war goes on'

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has changed her stance on Russian competitors at the 2024 Olympics, saying they should be banned "while the war continues" in Ukraine.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has changed her stance on Russian competitors at the 2024 Olympics, saying they should be banned "while the war continues" in Ukraine. © Michel Euler / AP

Last month Hidalgo said she believed Russians could take part in the Paris Games "under a neutral flag" to avoid "depriving athletes of competition".

On Tuesday she told French media that her earlier position was "indecent" because a neutral flag "does not really exist". She said there should be a place for "dissident Russians who want to parade under the refugee flag".

Her office said this was a "clarification" of her position.

Russian competitors would, she said, be athletes who do not "support Vladimir Putin in his aggression".

Tant que la Russie continue de faire la guerre à l'Ukraine, je ne souhaite pas qu'il y ait de délégation russe aux Jeux de @Paris2024. Je trouverais cela indécent.pic.twitter.com/hBawqS5Qbu

— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) February 7, 2023

The Refugee Olympic Team competed for the first time in the Rio Games in 2016, where it was made up of 10 athletes originally from Syria, Ethiopia, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022, Russians and Belarusians have been banned from most world sporting events.

• Olympics supremos plan for 'neutral' Russian and Belarusian athletes in Paris

Hidalgo did not address the issue of the participation of Belarusian athletes but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said last month it was exploring a "pathway" to allow competitors from both countries to take part in the Paris Olympics.

Ukraine responded by saying it would consider boycotting the Games.

The United States said Russian and Belarusian athletes should compete in Paris under a neutral flag, but many countries, particularly in Eastern Europe, have opposed the idea.

Boycott

Poland's sports minister, Kamil Bortniczuk, said last week that as many as 40 countries could refuse to take part in Paris if Russia and its ally Belarus were allowed to compete.

Estonia has said it would boycott while the Czech Olympic Committee said on Monday it was opposed to Russian participation but would not boycott.

French president Emmanuel Macron has not expressed himself on the subject. Contacted Tuesday by the French press agency AFP, neither the president's office nor France's ministry of sport gave any immediate reaction to Hidalgo's new position.

(with wires)