MINSK, 13 May (BelTA) – The Executive Board of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) allowed Belarusian and Russian athletes to its competitions as individual neutral athletes, IWF press service reports.
“Following an online meeting of its Executive Board, the IWF decided to endorse and apply the IOC’s “Recommendations for International Federations and international sports event organizers on the participation of athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport in international competitions.” These conditions relate to the eligibility criteria which athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport must adhere to in order to take part in IWF competitions, as well as the observance of their strict neutrality status during their participation in those events.
The IWF would like to highlight that this decision, also strongly supported by the IWF Athletes Commission, represents the best possible balance between maintaining the IWF’s ongoing position of solidarity with Ukraine and the need to preserve as much as possible the opportunity for all individual neutral athletes to practice sport irrespective of their nationalities,” the organization said in its statement.
