Latvia will not participate in the Olympics together with Russians and Belarusians

Author:
Sofiia Telishevska
Date:

Latvia has announced that it will not participate in the 2024 Olympic Games, along with aggressor countries Russia and Belarus, if the war in Ukraine continues at the time of the games.

This was said by the president of the Latvian Olympic Committee, Georges Tickmer, in an interview with LTV, Delfi reports.

"Latviaʼs position is this — if these games were held now and athletes from Russia and Belarus would participate in them, I think that the Latvian national team would not go to these games. We hope that the war will end, Ukraine will win. It will be a completely new situation and new rules of the game. Of course, in this case, Latvian athletes will also be able to participate in such Olympic Games," said Georges Tickmer.

Latvia will encourage its sports federations to appeal to their international colleagues to prevent athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in the qualifying competitions of the Olympic Games. At the same time, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced that athletes from Russia and Belarus would be allowed to participate in this yearʼs Asian Games, but it is not yet known whether they will be able to meet the qualification criteria for the Olympic Games.