Hungarian government: Russian athletes should not be banned from the Olympics
Sports and geopolitics “have nothing to do with each other”, and Hungary is calling for all qualified athletes to be allowed to compete at the Olympics, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said in Budapest on Wednesday.
Noone should be excluded from the Olympics
Speaking at the ceremony where Thomas Bach, who led the International Olympic Committee between 2013 and 2025, received an honorary doctorate from the Budapest University of Physical Education, Szijjártó said that the Olympic principle aimed to promote peace and understanding through sports. “The Olympic Games are supposed to provide a platform for peaceful competition and international cooperation above and beyond political and social divisions.”
According to a ministry statement, Szijjártó praised Bach as “the main protector of the Olympic Games’s faithfulness to the ideas of its founders.”
“We Hungarians … appreciate especially that Mr President has worked to preserve the principle that no one may be excluded from the Olympics because of their passport or nationality. We were also happy to see that Russian and Belorusian athletes were at least in part allowed to participate at the Paris Games, albeit with strict conditions. This is a … symbol of the way sports can rise above divisions in the world,” he said.
We encourage the IOC to remain brave
Sports also have a role in “connecting humanity at times of global uncertainty and rough conflicts,” he said. “We encourage the IOC to remain brave and to bring about the full Olympics; let us achieve that everyone who is qualified can be there, be it in individual or team sports,” he said.
Szijjártó said the Olympic movement was “the only effective, robust global structure operating on the principle of nationality that appreciates the national way of being, identity and cohesion.”
“The Olympic movement is a structure that does not want to force nations to … forget their identities… In the Olympic movement, nations are united on the basis of their strengths,” Szijjártó said.
Read also:
- Olympics in Hungary – a real possiblity or a pipe dream?
- Trump threatens with massive sanctions, tariffs on Russia that can punish even Hungary
Click for more news concerning Russia.
Yo folks, gotta tell this. I first heard about Woodbine Casino in a random Canadian gaming forum. Thought it would be like all the other sites, but man, the interface is clean, the slots are quick, and it actually feels fun. I spent way too long just spinning for kicks, testing patterns, and enjoying the randomness. It’s addictive without being overwhelming, and I actually look forward to popping in for a few rounds when I have some free time.
Can someone please delete the post above which is shamelessly using the space as an advertising platform?