These are all statements made especially so that the issue of preventing the entry of Russia and Belarus is on the agenda, said Olympic champion Svetlana Zhurova in a conversation with a Soviet sports correspondent.
Recall that the heads of the Baltic National Olympic Committees (NOCs) issued a joint statement against the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competitions.
“I hope that the IOC does not listen to these statements, because it called on everyone not to boycott and not to make propaganda to remove countries from international competitions, so that everyone tries to treat this normally. But countries will continue to make similar statements, they will try to boycott a number of sports, making it clear that if the IOC continues to work in the same way, they will ignore other competitions. They think so.
I think the IOC should stand firm: if a decision is made on admission, then it should be allowed. We should not react at all to all these statements; I’m sure they won’t boycott the Olympics. Most of our athletes won’t go to the Olympics anyway; It seems very strange that countries are trying to somehow boycott Russia and Belarus. Firstly, we are not going anywhere, and secondly, it is not clear what form this will all turn out to be. So far, countries are simply making political statements specifically to keep this on the agenda. In essence, this is a kind of public relations,” Zhurova said.
Previously, Svetlana Zhurova supported Vladimir Putin’s words about the Olympic Games.
