Le 14th Olympic Summit was held on Thursday in Lausanne. The list of participants included IOC President Kirsty Coventry, as well as leaders like Ingmar de Vos (president of the FEI and ASOIF), Sebastian Coe (World Athletics), Johan Eliasch (FIS), Gianni Infantino (FIFA), Luc Tardif (IIHF), Morinari Watanabe (World Gymnastics), Jae-youl Kim (ISU), Ivo Ferriani (IBSF), Mustapha Berraf (ACNOA), Robin Mitchell (ACNO), Timothy Fok (OCA), Neven Ilic (Panam Sports) or Spyros Capralos (COE).
They notably reaffirmed the importance of political neutrality for the Olympic Movement, while expressing the need for to define it more clearly and to specify its practical application. The IOC working group will examine this issue "The organization stated in a press release. Summit participants also reiterated the fundamental right of athletes to access sport: they thus supported the IOC Executive Board's recommendation that Young athletes holding a Russian or Belarusian passport should no longer be subject to restrictions on access to international junior competitions.in both individual and team sports ».
The summit participants pledged to submit these discussions to their organizations for review. The International Federations agreed that existing sanctions against the Russian and Belarusian governments should remain in place. They also agreed not to hold international sporting events in Russia, but… This recommendation no longer applies to Belarus. This leaves the door open for Minsk to return to the map of sporting events in the months and years to come.
