Dissident athletes’ group to check neutrality of Belarus’ Olympians

June 3, Pozirk. Starting June 4, the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Foundation (BSSF) will launch verification procedures to check whether Belarusian athletes, who have qualified for the 2024 Olympics, meet the neutrality criteria.

The check will focus on the athletes’ links to law enforcement agencies and their online activities that could show support for Russia’s war on Ukraine or other armed conflicts, the BSSF said.

Global Athletes (Canada), Athletes for Ukraine (Ukraine) and Open Society Foundation (USA) will assist BSSF in the verification process which will last until August 15.

Belarusian athletes won at least 30 Olympic qualifications as of late May, according to the National Olympic Committee.

When the war in Ukraine began in February 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) urged sports federations to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from all competitions.

It later recommended that some of them could be allowed as neutral athletes under certain conditions, such as not supporting the war.

In December 2023, the IOC allowed neutrals to compete in the 2024 Olympics.

The Paris Olympics will be held from July 26 to August 11.

Also read: Belarusian athletes awarded 27 Paris Olympics qualification places