THE Olympic Games must strengthen their role as an event that brings the world together in peace as conflicts around the world escalate, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, Kirsty Coventry, said on Friday.
Speaking after a final inspection visit in Milan ahead of the 2026 Milano-Cortina winter Olympics in February next year, Coventry also side-stepped a question about Israel’s participation in the Games — amid growing calls for sanctions due to the war in Gaza, saying the Games must be a place of peaceful competition.
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said on Monday Israel and Russia should be banned from international sports competitions until “barbaric acts” end, referring to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
The IOC has banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing under their nation’s flag at the Olympics following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Now more than ever, our movement, the sports movement, has to showcase the good that is in humanity,” Coventry told a press conference.
“Remaining a beacon of hope, remaining a platform for athletes from around the world to be able to live out their dreams and for athletes to be able to help change perceptions,” she said. “It is time to reaffirm that sport must unite the world and we must do that.”
Pro-Palestinian protests have hit some recent sports events, including the Vuelta a Espana cycling race which was stopped last week by demonstrators at the final stage. Coventry said she was confident athletes and fans would be safe at the Milano-Cortina Games, which start on February 6. Israel generally sends a very small team to the winter Games, with only a handful of athletes managing to qualify in winter sports.
“The priority for the organising committee, for the host country and for the IOC is to ensure safety of all our athletes and fans and anyone that comes into contact with the Games,” Coventry said.
Meanwhile, Russians will definitely be allowed to compete at next year’s Milan-Cortina Winter Games, but the IOC said on Friday it had never discussed banning Israel. “We also spoke about the individual neutral athletes at Milano-Cortina, this will be nothing new for all of you,” Coventry said.
“The executive board will take the exact same approach that was done in Paris, so it’s just a continuation … nothing has changed from Paris.” The Russian Olympic Committee has been suspended since 2023 by the IOC for breaking the Olympic charter by using an administrative land grab to incorporate regional sports bodies in occupied eastern Ukraine.
IOC restrictions bar Russia from team sports and individual Russian athletes who are in the military or publicly support the invasion of Ukraine. Those who are given neutral status must compete without their national identity, flag, anthem and colours.
Of the 32 “neutral” athletes at the Paris Olympics, 17 previously represented Belarus and 15 represented Russia. It is still up to each sport’s governing body, which run their own Olympic competitions, to assess and enforce neutral status of individual athletes. — Wires
