US Olympic Committee urges to allow Russian, Belarusian athletes to compete in 2024 Paris Olympics as neutrals

Head of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee Susanne Lyons is backing the idea to clear Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Lyons wants to see Russian and Belarusian nationals compete if they are banned from singing the national anthem and use the national flags or its colours in their uniforms and gear.

“Even though this leaves a pretty foul taste in your mouth, to look like you’re sliding back on this, it really is essential to the movement. We very much still stand with the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian athletes,” Lyons said.

At the same time, she stressed that the US supports Russian and Belarusian athletes “who have trained all their lives for this to be able to come back and compete”.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in the Beijing Paralympics. Moreover, a number of sports federations also blacklisted Russians from taking part in international competitions.

On 9 December, the IOC voted to keep these sanctions in place, therefore, effectively blocking Russian and Belarusian athletes from the 2024 Paris Olympics.