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Ukraine has spearheaded a call to ban athletes from Russia and
its close ally Belarus from the Paris Games after the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) in January said it was
open to including them as neutrals.
"I cannot imagine that they (IOC) will make that decision (to
allow Russian and Belarusian athletes at Paris 2024)," Mayor
Anne Hidalgo told French sports daily L'Equipe on Tuesday, 500
days before the start of the Games.
"I can't imagine for a second that the IOC would want to leave
such a legacy. So I'm going to do everything I can to make sure
that doesn't happen."
Athletes from Russia and its neighbour Belarus, which aided
Moscow's invasion of Ukraine a year ago, have been banned from
many international competitions since.
Last month, Hidalgo suggested Russian athletes could be allowed
to attend the July 26-Aug 11 Games as part of an IOC-established
refugee team, opposing the participation of Russian athletes as
neutrals.
"We must act now. The fact that the IOC has chosen Paris for the
celebration of this Olympics is a very strong sign because it is
the capital of human rights," she added on Tuesday, without
mentioning the refugee team idea.
"It is the capital where all the great universal declarations of
human rights have been sealed since the French Revolution. It is
a country and a city that cannot look away when it comes to
human rights."
Games organisers have repeatedly said that they would abide by
any decision the IOC makes over the participation of Russian and
Belarusian athletes.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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