The IOC has not yet taken a position on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Games. Will the formula in place at Paris 2024 be renewed? Asked by AIPS., David Lappartient does not want to rush. " It is a little too early to make a decision regarding participation in the Milan-Cortina Games », the Frenchman believes, presidential candidate of the instance. "We are not so naive as to think that our voice is strong enough to stop the war. But we call for peace, we pray for peace and we hope that peace can return. It is our DNA", he unrolls.
" Be politically neutral does not mean that one should not respect certain principles. That is why the Russian National Olympic Committee was suspended. They included in their NOC regions or provinces that are now part of another sovereign country whose borders are recognized by the United Nations and the international community. This is why the IOC sanctioned them, and not directly because the country was at war. We must remain strict on our principles. Similarly, athletes should not be discriminated against simply because they hold a passport from a country", he explains. The UCI president also confided that in his eyes, Russia "is not suspended for life", hoping to reunite the Olympic family again.
