Russian, Belarusian athletes 'not welcome' at Paris Olympics: Mayor
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Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo directs a verbal attack against Russian and Belarusian athletes taking part in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
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Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo uses a wheelchair elevator during her visit to the Pierre de Coubertin stadium, a sports training center for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, in Paris. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD / AFP)
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Saturday that 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 Kiev where she visited a training center for Ukrainian athletes.
Russian athletes can compete in the Paris Olympics, which run from July 26 until August 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 argued that the International Olympic Committee'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 war in Ukraine.
