by Although the United Nations voted last year to respect the Olympic ceasefire, the Paris Games will still take place under the shadow of international conflict.
“To build a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal” was the resolution of the United Nations.
AFP looks at how the fighting in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as tensions with countries, particularly Afghanistan, whose policies are against the Olympic Charter, could cause issues for the Games, which run from July 26 until 11 August.
Russian Riddle
Russia’s continued doping led to their Paralympic team being banned from the Rio Games in 2016 and Russian athletes being banned from competing under their national flag at the 2021 Tokyo Games, and at the 2018 Pyeongchang and 2022 Beijing Winter Games .
This time the issue is war, not drugs. On February 24, 2022, four days after the end of the Beijing Olympics, and with the ceasefire still in place, Russia invaded Ukraine.
The international outcry led to an immediate ban from most international sports on Russia and its ally Belarus. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the Russian Olympic Committee last October for annexing the sports organizations of four partially occupied regions of Ukraine.
On the other hand, the IOC is keen to protect individual Russian competitors under the “non-discrimination” clause in the Olympic Charter.
He began directing them to return to competition in March 2023, and authorized their presence at the Games in December, on the condition that they compete under a neutral flag, do not parade in the opening ceremony and that they will prove that they did not “actively support the war in Ukraine. ” and are not connected to the military or security agencies.
Ukraine is still pushing for a ban on Russians, but Kyiv abandoned its threat of a boycott last summer.
The IOC estimated in March that 36 Russians and 22 Belarusians should be able to qualify for Paris.
This leaves the recurring question of how representatives of warring nations will be at the Games together.
Gaza: remain neutral
The IOC is trying to stay above the Gaza conflict, citing its implementation of the “two-state solution”, a legacy of the 1993 Oslo peace process. The Israeli and Palestinian National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have been in the IOC since 1995.
Israel has not violated the Olympic ceasefire and its NOC has not annexed any Palestinian sports organizations, but its retaliation for the bloody Hamas attack on October 7 destroyed the headquarters of the main Palestinian sports institutions and caused the death of prominent sports figures, including. the coach of the football team.
Neither the Palestinians nor any Arab states have threatened to boycott the Games if the Israelis participate.
This leads the IOC to take a two-pronged approach. It relies on its “university places” to guarantee a Palestinian presence, which may struggle to pass the traditional qualifiers. It is also focusing on security, as it has at every Games since 1972, when 11 Israelis were murdered during an attack on their Olympic delegation in Munich by members of an extremist Palestinian organization.
Iran-Israel: growing uncertainty
The impact of this growing conflict on the Games remains difficult to assess. Countries at war, such as Iran and Iraq, have participated in the same Games. The IOC’s doctrine of separating sport from politics is not in itself a reason for exclusion. Again, there are concerns about how athletes from both countries will live together in the Olympic Village and about their behavior in competition. Iran punished athletes for shaking hands with Israelis, and urged them not to compete against their Israeli opponents.
Afghanistan: discreet pressure
The return of the Taliban to power in 2021 presented a dilemma for the IOC. He wants to help athletes and support staff who remain in Afghanistan, but the restrictions on women participating in sport violate Olympic principles.
The IOC is demanding that the Afghan authorities guarantee “safe access to sport for women and girls”. The IOC also provided financial assistance to athletes and left it with the option of confronting the country’s NOC, for example by refusing to accredit officials to Paris.
In mid-March, the Olympic body pledged to do “everything possible” to ensure that the Afghan team attends the Olympic Games in 2024 “with respect for gender parity”. The IOC does not believe that “the sports community is isolated of Afghanistan at this time is the right approach”, said IOC Director of Olympic Solidarity, James Macleod.
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