NO GAMES BOYCOTT, SAYS PUTIN
Russia athletes to compete under neutral flag
doping, but said some Russian athletes will be allowed to compete under strict conditions.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Zhukov did not immediately say whether Russia would take part in the games.
“We will have to discuss this decision,” he said.
Officials are expected to address the issue on Dec 12.
The Kremlin did not release an immediate reaction.
Putin said in October that both a blanket ban and allowing Russia to compete under a neutral flag would be “humiliation for the country.”
The IOC decision sparked outrage in Russia, with many saying the country was humiliated and others suggesting to boycott the games.
Deputy speaker of Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma, Pyotr Tolstoy said that Russia should boycott the Games altogether.
MOSCOW
“They are humiliating the whole of Russia through the absence of its flag and anthem,” he said in televised remarks.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said she was with the country’s athletes in spirit.
“Does it hurt? Very much,” she said on Facebook.
“Will we survive? Yes.” President of the Russian Bobsleigh Federation Alexander Zubkov described the decision to ban Russia as “a punch in the stomach.”
Lawmaker Irina Rodnina, who is a Soviet figure skating legend, apologised for not being able to protect Russian athletes. “How they are afraid of us,” Rodnina tweeted. “Sorry guys.”
Tatyana Tarasova, a prominent Russian figure skating coach, said the IOC decision was “absolutely unjust.”
“This is simply the murder of our national sport,” Tarasova told AFP in an interview. AFP if they want to take part in a personal capacity,” Putin said after a speech at an automobile plant in Nizhny Novgorod, in which he announced he would run for a fourth presidential term next year.
“The final decision of course must be made by the Olympic team,” he said.
Bach stated that he had “taken note” of Putin’s announcement, the IOC president adding: “I hope and I’m confident that the clean Russian athletes will seize this opportunity to participate at the 2018 Winter Games to represent a new generation of clean athletes.”
For Putin the ban “looks like an absolutely staged and politically motivated decision.” He repeated denials that any state sponsored doping programme had existed in Russia.
“I feel for those guys — I consider many of them friends rather than just acquaintances. I really feel for them,” he said of the athletes in the Russian team.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier on Wednesday cautioned against an “emotional” response to the ban.
Politicians and athletes earlier reacted with anger and disappointment to the IOC decision.The head of Russia’s Olympic Committee, Alexander Zhukov, told the IOC that punishing clean athletes was “unjust and immoral.”
Russian media expressed regret at the decision while welcoming the possibility of some athletes participating in South Korea next year, albeit under tight restrictions.
The IOC “chose one of the harshest options it was considering but still not the harshest of all”, which would have been a total ban, wrote Kommersant business daily.
“It’s very hard to take accusations and punishments. But the fate of our athletes and preserving our place in the Olympic family is more important,” wrote the Sport Express daily.
Some top sports figures agreed, with ice hockey forward Ilya Kovalchuk telling TASS state news agency: “We must go to the Olympics. Refusing is surrender.”
Pole vault star Yelena Isinbayeva told TASS: “Addressing our athletes, I want to say that they should absolutely not despair and should continue training for the games.” AFP