The IOC has received a lot of support. It is very encouraged by the fact that the vast majority of the international community understands the challenging situation for sport and supports its values-based course of action. This has been expressed by many statements from political leaders at the level of the United Nations, intergovernmental organisations and heads of state and government.

In May 2023, the Group of Seven (G7) Leaders’ expressed support in a statement at their summit in Hiroshima/Japan. Early in July 2023, the Non-Aligned Movement, chaired by Azerbaijan, which includes 120 of the 193 UN Member States, also declared its support and in September 2023 the G20 Leaders expressed their support.

The G7 statement says that the G7 are “fully respecting the autonomy of sporting organizations” and want to ensure that “Russian and Belarusian athletes are in no way appearing as representatives of their states”. This is fully aligned with the position of the IOC in this respect.

The IOC warmly welcomed the G7 support for the autonomy of sport and for the IOC’s recommendations on the participation of athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport, only as individual, neutral athletes. This commitment to the autonomy of sports organisations comes at a crucial time, when it is threatened by a few governments. Therefore, the IOC is very grateful to the G7 Leaders for their unequivocal statement.

The G7 Summit is an international forum held annually for the leaders of the G7 member states of France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada (in order of rotating presidency), and the European Union (EU).

On 7 July, the IOC welcomed a Declaration by the Non-Aligned Movement which includes 120 of the 193 UN Member States. The Declaration, which was passed unanimously, emphasises that “the participation of athletes from all 206 National Olympic Committees in Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games would be a strong symbol of unity of humanity.” In this respect, it expresses its “support to the efforts and initiatives undertaken by the International Olympic Committee to this end”.

This position is also fully aligned with the IOC recommendations for International Federations and international sports event organisers on the participation of athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport in international competitions, including qualifiers for the Olympic Games.

The IOC warmly welcomed the support by the 120 member states of the Non-Aligned Movement. It is greatly encouraged by this strong commitment to the unifying mission of the Olympic Games.

Read the full statement of the Non-Aligned Movement here.

In September 2023, the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration said: “We reiterate our commitment to the G20 as the premier forum for global economic cooperation and its continued operation in the spirit of multilateralism, on the basis of consensus, with all members participating on an equal footing in all its events including Summits.”

It continued: “We also look forward to the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024 as a symbol of peace, dialogue amongst nations and inclusivity, with participation of all.”

IOC President Thomas Bach welcomed the statement. He said in Lausanne: “We would like to thank very warmly the G20 Leaders, who include for the first time the African Union, for their invaluable support. The IOC will continue to work with full commitment to achieve these goals, which are also our goals.”

The IOC has also taken note of the negative reactions, in particular from some European governments.

It is deplorable to see that some governments do not want to respect the majority within the Olympic Movement or the autonomy of sport which they are requesting from other countries, and are praising in countless speeches and UN and European Union resolutions.

It is deplorable that these governments do not address the question of double standards with which we were confronted in the consultation calls.

We have not seen a single comment from them about their attitude towards the participation of athletes whose countries are involved in the other 70 wars, armed conflicts and crises in the world.

It is even more deplorable that they grossly neglect the very clear statement of the two Special Rapporteurs from the UN Human Rights Council, while in other issues they are always highlighting their firm requests for the respect of human rights.

As stated by the UN Special Rapporteur: “The idea is not that we are going to recognise human rights to people who are like us and with whom we agree on their actions and on their behaviour. The idea is that anyone has the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of their passport.”

Read the detailed explanation of the position of the UN Special Rapporteur here.

Discussions and reactions from the Olympic Movement are making it very clear that these governmental and political interventions have even strengthened the unity of the Olympic Movement.

All stakeholders made it very clear again: it cannot be up to the governments to decide which athlete can take part in which competitions. This would be the end of international sport as we know it. All the Olympic Movement stakeholders are very concerned about this. The IOC has received a letter signed by the Presidents of all five Continental Associations of NOCs, representing all 206 NOCs, welcoming the IOC recommendations in defence of the autonomy of sport which ensures that “international sports competitions welcome athletes from all countries”.

ASOIF, representing the 33 Summer Olympic International Federations “emphasised the necessity to prevent public authorities’ influence in sport matters”.

The Athletes’ Commissions from Asia and Africa welcomed the recommendations too, and some even wanted the IOC to go further. The situation of athletes from countries and regions affected by the too many wars and conflicts around the world was also raised during the International Athletes’ Forum in October 2023 in Lausanne. It was attended by Athletes’ Commissions members from 181 NOCs, 54 IFs, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Organising Committees for the upcoming Olympic Games (OCOGs) and Continental Associations, as well as members of the Athletes’ Declaration Steering Committee and representatives from the World Olympians Association (WOA).

The IOC has of course also seen the reactions from Russia, where the ROC says that: “the parameters and criteria announced for the return of Russians to international competitions are absolutely unacceptable”, and that the “decisions of the IOC Executive Board are nothing more than a farce (…) which grossly violates basic principles of the Olympic Charter and the UN Charter.”

In Russia, even before the publication of the recommendations, the IOC was already called “agents of the United States of America”.

Ukrainian representatives called the IOC recommendations unacceptable, and the IOC is portrayed as “siding with the Russians”, whose invasion the IOC has strongly condemned from the very beginning.

The IOC is also supporting the Ukrainian athletes and the Ukrainian Olympic Community in an unprecedented way, and this support continues to grow.

The fact that both sides in this confrontation are not satisfied might indicate that the IOC has found some middle ground on which all sides can move forward to make a contribution to understanding and peace.

The entire Olympic Movement strongly stands by its values to unite the world in peaceful competition.