New Zealand has joined an international coalition of 36 countries, calling for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to continue its ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing at the Olympics.
Minister for Sports and Recreation Grant Robertson signed a statement penned by the UK government alongside 35 other world leaders.
Robertson's name appears with sports leaders from the UK, the US, Japan, Germany, France and Spain - among others.
The statement calls for the continued ban on Russians and Belarusians from competing in the Olympics.
They called it "imperative for fairness and solidarity towards the Ukrainian athletes whose facilities have been destroyed and who have had to leave their country" to continue the ban.
In January, the IOC made clear they want Russians to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
They recommended athletes from the two countries who want to compete should only be accepted as neutrals, with no national symbols, flags or colours. Similar to what is happening in tennis.
Yugoslavian athletes competed as neutrals in 1992 during the Balkan war.
The coalition said this pathway needs to be revised and goes against the IOC's previous reasoning.
"While recognising the autonomy of sports bodies, given the invasion of Ukraine and its devastation is ongoing, we agreed that the IOC's proposal on exploring a pathway back to competition for individual Russian and Belarusian athletes raises many questions and concerns," the statement read.
"There is no practical reason to move away from the exclusion regime for Russian and Belarusian athletes set by the IOC in their statement of 28 February 2022."
The statement takes the stand that sport and politics are closely intertwined in the two countries, giving them "strong concerns" about how these athletes will compete as neutrals.
"Under the IOC's conditions of no identification with their country - when they are directly funded and supported by their states.
"The strong links and affiliations between Russian athletes and the Russian military are also of clear concern."
The previous Olympic statement suggested responsibility would lie with individual sports governing bodies to ensure that any Russian athlete supporting the war is removed from competition, suspended and reported to the IOC for further action.
They said, "Russia and Belarus have it in their own hands to pave the way for their athletes' full return to the international sports community, namely by ending the war they started."
SHARE ME