Paris Olympics 2024: Nordic nations join calls for ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes to be upheld

Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to vie astatine the 2022 Winter Olympics nether a neutral flag

The Olympic committees of 5 Nordic nations person backed calls for the prohibition connected Russian and Belarusian athletes to beryllium upheld for the Paris 2024 Games.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said Russians and Belarusians whitethorn beryllium allowed to vie arsenic neutrals.

Ukraine has threatened to boycott the Paris Olympics if that program goes ahead.

Last week, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland each voiced their absorption to the inclusion of athletes from Russia and Belarus, who were banned pursuing the former's penetration of Ukraine successful February 2022.

Latvia's Foreign Minister said it would beryllium "unacceptable" for athletes from the 2 countries to enactment successful 2024, portion Poland's athletics and tourism curate believes as galore arsenic 40 countries could boycott the adjacent Olympics - frankincense making the full lawsuit "pointless".

The Nordic Olympic and Paralympic Committees and Confederations of Sports said connected Tuesday that they wanted to reaffirm their "steadfast enactment with the Ukrainian radical and the request for peace".

"The concern with the warfare successful Ukraine has not changed. Now is not the close clip to see their return; that is our position," they added.

The IOC called connected federations to exclude athletes from Russia and Belarus pursuing the penetration of Ukraine and banned the nations from the Winter Paralympics successful March 2022 - though athletes were allowed to vie nether a neutral flag.

Further sanctions were announced crossed different sports, including football, rugby, Formula 1, cycling and swimming, portion Russian and Belarusian tennis players were banned from playing astatine Wimbledon.

However, the IOC said past period that it would "explore a pathway" for athletes from the 2 nations to vie astatine Paris 2024.

That determination has been criticised successful a associated connection from Athletes for Ukraine and jock relation Global Athlete, which said the determination shows the IOC "endorses Russia's brutal warfare and penetration of Ukraine".

The UK authorities condemned the program arsenic a "world distant from the world of war".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says allowing Russia to vie successful Paris would magnitude to showing that "terror is someway acceptable".