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Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin told Russian news agency TASS that Russia will not boycott the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Perhaps Vladimir Putin should inform Matytsin it’s a moot point to boycott the Games — they are banned. On October 5, 2023, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) for their illegal war on Ukraine. Additionally, World Athletics had already banned the Russian Athletics Federation (RAF).

Perhaps it is lost on Matytsin that if Russia were permitted to compete in the Olympic Games, it would likely cause other boycotts.

However, the IOC is permitting a select few Russians to compete as neutrals under the Olympic flag and with the name ROC. There will be no national colours, flags or anthems.

Matytsin told TASS, “We shouldn’t turn our backs, close ourselves off, boycott this movement. We should maintain the possibility of dialogue and take part in the competitions as much as possible.”

Other than the select few neutral athletes, it is not possible.

In Feb. 2023, Matytsin said that calls from ministers of more than 30 countries to ban Russia from the Games were unacceptable.

As it turned out, 35 countries, including the US, and Germany, demanded that Russia be banned from the Games.

The IOC rule on neutrals is that they “cannot actively support the war” or be “under contract to the Russian or Belarusian national armed forces or security services.”

While IOC president Thomas Bach spent much of 2023 defending the neutrals and the ROC, saying “According to the United Nations at least 28 other conflicts are going on in the world,” he has recently changed his tone.

Bach has sent mixed signals to Russia as he has twice flip-flopped on his support of Russia in the Games. Perhaps this is where the confusion lies with Matytsin.

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