Olympic echoes of boycott era as Ukraine vs IOC intensifies
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Bach said in September 2021 when issuing the ban that taking part in the Olympics can “show to the world how it could look like if everybody would respect the same rules, if everybody would live together peacefully without any kind of discrimination.” Afghanistan could be banned from Paris next year for denying women and girls the right to play sport. After the IOC pledged to explore legal options, it instead asked governing bodies of individual Olympic sports to decide within days how, and which, Russian athletes could be eligible for Rio. NEUTRAL STATUS The IOC’s suggested option of Russian and Belarusian athletes competing in Paris as neutral athletes without their flag, anthem or national team name has precedent. Fallout from the Russian doping scandal has meant teams at the past three Olympics starting in 2018 competed under supposedly neutral names — Olympic Athlete from Russia, and ROC — without flag and anthem.