The International Olympic Committee (IOC) rejected on Friday the accusations made by Russia's President Vladimir Putin who claimed that parameters used to allow athletes to compete in world tournaments are rather focused on "ethnic discrimination" than on sportive skills.
In a statement, the IOC stressed that "participation in the Olympic Games is by no means a human right, and the recent amendment of the Olympic Charter is not related to it." Furthermore, it explained that "the strict conditions the IOC" suggested to the international federations for "athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport" are a response "to the breach of the Olympic Charter" by both Eastern European governments. Earlier, Putin criticized that an invitation to the Games became "a kind of privilege" result of "political gestures." "As gross, and in fact racist, ethnic discrimination," he slammed.
Previously, the IOC recommended that both national teams of athletes should not participate in such contests but left the possibility open for those "individual neutral athletes."