European Union Presidency urges IOC to ban Russian athletes at Olympics

The European Union's Presidency urged the International Olympic Committee to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from next year's Paris Games, yet said on Monday a boycott by the 27-nation bloc was not on the table.

Sweden's Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health Jakob Forssmed said the IOC should reconsider its position to let Russian and Belarusian athletes compete as neutrals in international sport despite the war in Ukraine.

Sweden holds the EU’s powerful presidency until July.

Carrying the role allows a member nation to help set the EU’s tone and the 27-nation bloc's agenda.

Asked whether EU nations should use the threat of a collective boycott to pressure the IOC to backpedal, Forssmed said that option was not being discussed right now.

“We’re not there,” he said on the margins of a gathering of sports ministers in Brussels.

“But I do think that the International Olympic Committee, they really risk a trust issue here if they are not listening, and also making sure that no Russian athletes can represent Russia in any way at the Olympics.”

The IOC favours allowing Russians and Belarusians to compete as neutral athletes without national symbols as qualifying ramps up for next year’s Olympics.

The IOC - which last year recommended excluding Russian competitors on security grounds but now argues that would be discriminatory - has left the final decision to the governing bodies in each sport.

Eligibility should be limited to athletes and officials who have not actively supported the war, nor have ties to the military and state security agencies.

No clear definitions for eligibility were yet stated.

Some of the Russian athletes who competed at the judo world championships earlier this month had previously been listed in statements by the Russian Defense Ministry or the Central Sports Club of the Army, known as CSKA, as holding military ranks.

Although a large majority of EU countries are opposing Russian and Belarusian competing in Paris, finding a unanimous voice has been so far impossible.

Hungary, which has vocally opposed EU sanctions against Moscow arguing they were doing more damage to European economies than to Russia, is not supporting a ban.

Also read: Carlos Alcaraz's 12-match winning streak ends with loss at Italian Open