Hasn’t there not been a russian flag at the past few olympics because of all the cheating scandals? And it doesn’t matter because the athletes just attend as “ROC” and everyone knows they are russia anyway?

Like, I get that a lot of these athletes have spent their entire lives working toward this and missing one cycle can largely mean the end of their career. But also… fuck 'em? They are representing a country that is actively committing genocide (speaking of, how are the Uyghurs doing, China?) and their nation should be ostracized. If a different country wants to take them in as a refugee, sure. But fuck this “Oh, they are not russian. they are russian olympic committee or whatever” nonsense.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

PARIS, Sept 7 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said no Russian flag should fly at next year’s Paris Olympics, with Russian athletes’ participation an issue for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to decide.

Ukraine has threatened a boycott of the Games though it may drop that if athletes from war allies Russia and Belarus compete under a neutral flag rather than national colours.

Because Russia, as a country, is not welcome at a time where it has committed war crimes and deported children," Macron told French sports daily L’Equipe.

“The real question, that the Olympic organisation should decide upon, is what place can be given to the Russian athletes (…) an issue that should not be politicized.”

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has killed tens of thousands, destroyed cities, uprooted millions and hammered the economy.

Russian troops used Belarus as a staging ground for their abortive attack on Kyiv early on in the invasion.

The original article contains 224 words, the summary contains 155 words. Saved 31%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!