PARIS: Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Saturday Russian and Belarusian athletes “were not welcome” at the Olym­pics being staged in the French capital this year.

“I want to tell Russian and Belarusian athletes that they are not welcome in Paris and to tell Ukrainian athletes and all the Ukrainian people that we support them very strongly,” Hidalgo said in a video posted by Ukrainian YouTube channel, United News.

Hidalgo made her comments on a trip to Kyiv where she visited a training centre for Ukrainian athletes.

Russian athletes can compete in the Paris Olympics, which run from July 26 until Aug 11 but only as neutrals.

Russia and Belarus have been banned from taking part in the opening ceremony which will be staged on the River Seine in the heart of the city.

In response, Moscow launched a furious tirade at the International Oly­mpic Committee, arguing the IOC’s restrictions on Russian athletes amounted to “neo-Nazism”.

The IOC suspended Russia from the 2024 Games last year, but gave the green light for its athletes to compete as neutrals as long as they did not actively support the Kre­mlin’s assault on Ukr­aine.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2024