Paris 2024: Basketball Russia banned from Games – 04/19/2023 – Sports

The FIBA ​​(International Basketball Federation) announced this Tuesday (18) the exclusion of the Russian men’s basketball team from the tournaments that precede the classification of the teams for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, which will take place in August this year.

“According to the recommendations of the IOC [Comitê Olímpico Internacional] concerning the participation of athletes of Russian or Belarusian nationality in international competitions published on March 28, the FIBA ​​Executive Committee has decided not to authorize the registration of the Russian team in the FIBA ​​2023 Olympic Prequalification Tournaments,” the federation stated in its site.

In this way, the federation aligns with the recommendations of the IOC which, at the end of March, declared itself in favor of the individual return of athletes from Russia and Belarus to international competitions under a neutral flag.

On the other hand, the IOC stated that “teams of athletes who have Russian and Belarusian passports cannot be considered”, as well as “athletes who actively support the war”. At the time, the committee did not take a definitive position on the participation of these athletes in the Paris Olympic Games.

Russia’s place in the FIBA ​​qualifying tournament will be taken by Bulgaria, the next highest ranked team in Europe.

Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian athletes have been banned from most international sporting competitions. Belarusians, Russia’s allies in the war, also suffered this type of retaliation.

In January, however, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) signaled the possibility for athletes from both countries to participate in the biggest sporting event in the world under neutral flags, going against the grain of the campaign of Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky, who wants the exclusion of these athletes from the Games from Paris.

In March, IOC President Thomas Bach expressed that he would like sports federations to welcome athletes from these two countries back into international competition, but postponed a decision on the Games “until an appropriate date”.

Among international federations, however, there is no consensus on the issue. In tennis, for example, Russian and Belarusian players competed on the ATP and WTA professional circuit without their national symbols. The exception was the Wimbledon tournament, which, in 2022, banned the participation of athletes from both countries.

While fencing is in favor of the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes under neutral flags, athletics indicates that it should maintain its veto of these sportsmen.

During the March announcement, the IOC emphasized that, in the deliberative meetings on the participation or not of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international tournaments, “it was emphasized that the Olympic Games cannot avoid wars and conflicts nor can they face all political and social challenges in our world”.

“This is the realm of politics. But the Olympic Games can be an example for a world where everyone respects the same rules and each other,” the statement said.