The head of the IOC Coventry urged governments not to mix sports and politics

Sport should remain a neutral territory where athletes can compete without political interference. This was announced on November 18 by the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Kirsty Coventry, her statement was published on the IOC website.

"Sport should remain a beacon of hope — a place where people can gather for peaceful competition. This is the essence of Olympism: every eligible athlete, team and official should be able to participate without discrimination or political interference," she said, addressing representatives of the Olympic movement and senior officials of the European Union (EU).

Coventry called on the host countries to guarantee access for all participants. She shared her personal experience, noting that if she had been sanctioned because of the situation in Zimbabwe, she would not have been able to win Olympic medals.

In her speech, the IOC President also emphasized the principle of equality in the Olympic movement, where every vote has the same weight regardless of the geographical location of the country. The event was attended by EU Commissioner for Intergenerational Justice, Youth, Culture and Sport Glenn Micallef, with whom Coventry discussed the role of sport in European society.

Parisian patterns: our top athletes will miss the Olympic Games again

Hopes for the new IOC leadership turned out to be in vain, but there is still good news.

On November 15, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the IOC was neglecting the principles of the Olympic movement for the sake of Russophobia. According to her, the IOC is coming up with excuses to prevent correspondents from Russia from covering the Olympics. She also recalled that in 2024, the organizing committee of the Paris Olympics denied access to journalists from Russia, referring to the decision of the French authorities.

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