The Paris Olympic Games kicked off on 26 July with a parade on the Seine River in London. There, along with the other participating countries, were delegations from Israel, Palestine and Ukraine, among others. 15 Russian athletes and 17 Belarussians also set out to form a group of Neutral Individual Athletes (AIN), the way in which the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been able to participate after the expulsion of their respective national Olympic committees for "profaning the Olympic Cease-fire" due to the invasion of Ukraine at the 2022 Olympic Games.

The day after the inauguration, Israel launched an air raid on a school in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, which killed 30 Palestinians and left some 100 wounded. In Ukraine, the Russian Army continued its progress in the Jarkiv region, attacking three electrical installations. The Olympic truce came into force on 19 July, when a ceasefire took place.

This is the atmosphere that is being experienced at the Paris Games 2024, which has led the French Government to extend the security mechanism in the face of the risk of attacks. Jules Boykoff, professor at the University of the Pacific EE.UU. And an expert at the Olympic Games, he explained that "the security forces are everywhere, the police forces circulate around the city, many of them with assault rifles and weapons of military use, some with camouflage uniform, others with blue police uniform."

The phrase "genocide is not an Olympic sport" resonated in the demonstration called in Paris on the eve of the inaugural event and in the football match between Paraguay and Israel.

Among the exhibitions of Simone Biles and surprises such as gold for rugby in France, the public has shown its position, especially in the face of Israeli attacks on Gaza. The phrase "genocide is not an Olympic sport" was heard at the demonstration convened in Paris on the eve of the inauguration, and in the football match between Paraguay and Israel a banner was displayed with the slogan "Olympic genocide", along with several Palestinian flags. French justice is investigating these facts, accused of a crime of incitement to racial hatred in the country. According to Boykoff, who participates in this meeting, "security was much more intense than at other events in which I participated in the Olympic Games."

They have also wanted to show the attitude of some sportsmen and women towards these conflicts, which in some cases affect their respective countries. Waseem Abu Sal, a Palestinian flagship at the Paris Games, wore a shirt at the opening ceremony, denouncing the bombing of Palestinian children. The Palestinian swimmer Yazan Al Bawwab went out to the Olympic pool with his fist up and the Palestinian flag fluttering on his chest. The Algerian judoka Messaud Dris, for his part, is being investigated after his category gave him little more weight than allowed and did not stand up to fight against the Israeli Tohar Butbul, hanging from the belt. It was suspected that these events had been voluntarily denied and that they had refused to confront the Israeli Jew, who opposed it. Following the precedent of his compatriot and Jew, Fethi Nourine, he was sentenced to ten years in prison for refusing to compete with Tohar Bulambul at the previous Tokyo Olympic Games. Therefore, you will need to see what END’s decision on Dris is.

The Algerian judoca Messaud Dris, for her part, is being investigated after she gave her more weight than allowed in her category and did not stand up to fight against the Israeli Tohar Butbul.

This case does not coincide with that of the Ukrainian fencing Olga Kharlan, who has just won the bronze medal in Paris after being sanctioned in the 2023 World Cup for refusing to greet his Russian rival. On that occasion, the IOC President himself, Thomas Bach, sent him a letter of support and assured him that he would receive a personal invitation to participate in Paris, regardless of the condemnation of the International Federation of Fencing (FIE). After that letter, the FIE withdrew the sanction and had no problems participating in the Olympic Games. "This is for the athletes of my country, who have not been able to be here because Russia killed them," said Klein, who got the bronze in his hand.

Neutrality in doubt

Bach’s support for Olga Klein was broken with the neutrality that the IOC has done and that Tokyo implemented in 2020 with the judoca Fethi Nourine. This doctrine based on independence between sport and politics helped to keep the NOVA united in a cold war amid great political tension. In the Paris Games, however, it has lost its meaning if we consider how the IOC has acted in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

In February 2022, the IOC "strongly" condemned the violation of the Russian Olympic ceasefire by the invasion of Ukraine during the 2022 Beijing Games and confirmed the suspension of the Russian and Belarussian Olympic Committee last October. Subsequently, it set up a committee composed of Nicole Hoevertsz, vice-president of the IOC, Pau Gasol, member of the Ethical Committee and Seung Min Ryu, representative of the Athletes’ Committee. This Committee specified the Russian and Belarusian athletes who qualify to be part of the Individual Neutral Athletes team to be in Paris. To be admitted, they had to obtain the qualification of individual athletes, they did not belong to the army of their country and they would not need to provide public protection.

The support of the President of the International Olympic Committee for the Ukrainian fencing Olga Kharlan broke with the neutrality with which the IOC implemented Tokyo 2020 with the judoca Fethi Nourine

In the case of Israel, however, the IOC did not take any decision in response to its army’s attacks on Gaza on 7 October. Nor did it change its position last January, when the International Court of Justice issued a judgment in which it warned that there was a real risk of genocide, nor in March when the UN report concluded that "there are reasonable grounds to believe that Israel has reached the point that it is aiming to commit genocide." When asked about this, Thomas Bach himself recently said: "We're not in the business of politics, we're here to fulfill our mission of bringing athletes together."

The mission of bringing together athletes is also questioned if the number of 350 Palestinian athletes donated by the Palestinian Olympic Committee (POPs) is taken into account. These victims include Hasni al-Masdar, the coach of the Palestinian Olympic football team, or Majed Abu Maraheel, the first Olympic flagship in the history of Palestine, killed by malnutrition in the Al Nuseirat refugee camp. Israel has also destroyed much of the sports facilities in the Gaza Strip and has done so with the Yarmou stadium, one of the oldest in Palestine, as a detention centre.

Neutrality in the face of Israeli attacks facilitates the practice of sports laundering by allowing 88 local athletes to participate in the Olympic Games

"The war situation in Ukraine is incomparable to that of any other war or conflict in the world, as the measures and recommendations adopted by the IOC are a consequence of the invasion of the Russian Army at the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Games," said the aforementioned sources.

The firmness shown to Russia by the highest Olympic body has prevented its belligerence from being apologised through the actions of its athletes in Paris. On the contrary, the neutrality shown in the face of Israel’s attacks facilitates the practice of sports laundering, as it allows the participation of 88 local athletes in the Olympic Games. Egyptian journalist Karim Zidan has said that at least 30 of them have given "coverage" to their country's armed forces and the invasion of Gaza.