Olympic chiefs on Tuesday recommended the return to competition of Russian and Belarusian athletes as individual neutrals, but refused to give a timeline on their potential participation at next year’s Paris Olympics.

IOC president Thomas Bach said the IOC Executive Board had recommended to international federations and international sports event organisers that “athletes with a Russian or a Belarusian passport must compete only as Individual Neutral Athletes”.

German Sports Minister Nancy Faeser reacted immediately, calling the recommendation a “slap in the face” for Ukrainian athletes, who she said “deserve the solidarity of international sport”.

“International sport must condemn Russia’s brutal war of aggression in no uncertain terms. This can only be done with the complete exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes.”

Read the full story on sportsdesk.com.mt...

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