MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin told journalists on Thursday he hoped that Russian athletes would be able to compete under the Russian flag at the next Olympics. Our flag will always be the flag of Russia. We have no other flags, Matytsin told journalists in response to a question about what flag Russian athletes would fly at the next Olympic Games. Let’s hope for this. We will do our utmost to make it happen, Matytsin stated. We will do everything in our power to make it happen. According to the minister, the main task now is to keep preserving the international sports movement’s principles. The pressure that some governments are now putting on the International Olympic Committee threatens the principles of sports development, he continued. Our common task is to protect these principles, to protect the Olympic Movement from political influence, Matytsin added. After Tokyo hosted the 2020 Summer Olympics, Paris will host the Summer Games in 2024, while Los Angeles will host the event in 2028. In 2021, at the 138th IOC (the International Olympic Committee) session in Tokyo, Australia’s Brisbane was selected to host the 2032 Summer Olympic Games. On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason. Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments. At its session on January 25, 2023, the IOC Executive Board put forward a proposal to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Specifically, eligible athletes from the two countries should not be active supporters of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under neutral status. On February 9, Reuters news agency quoted IOC President Thomas Bach as saying in a statement that any potential boycott of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris by the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee (NOC) would be in violation of the Olympic Charter.

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MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin told journalists on Thursday he hoped that Russian athletes would be able to compete under the Russian flag at the next Olympics. Our flag will always be the flag of Russia. We have no other flags, Matytsin told journalists in response to a question about what flag Russian athletes would fly at the next Olympic Games. Let’s hope for this. We will do our utmost to make it happen, Matytsin stated. We will do everything in our power to make it happen. According to the minister, the main task now is to keep preserving the international sports movement’s principles. The pressure that some governments are now putting on the International Olympic Committee threatens the principles of sports development, he continued. Our common task is to protect these principles, to protect the Olympic Movement from political influence, Matytsin added. After Tokyo hosted the 2020 Summer Olympics, Paris will host the Summer Games in 2024, while Los Angeles will host the event in 2028. In 2021, at the 138th IOC (the International Olympic Committee) session in Tokyo, Australia’s Brisbane was selected to host the 2032 Summer Olympic Games. On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason. Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments. At its session on January 25, 2023, the IOC Executive Board put forward a proposal to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Specifically, eligible athletes from the two countries should not be active supporters of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under neutral status. On February 9, Reuters news agency quoted IOC President Thomas Bach as saying in a statement that any potential boycott of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris by the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee (NOC) would be in violation of the Olympic Charter.