World Athletics President Sebastian Coe Says Return Of Russian Athletes 'Unlikely' Before Paris Olympics

18.08.2023 - 06:27 sports.ndtv.com

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said Thursday it was "unlikely" that track and field athletes from Russia and Belarus would be welcomed back to competition before next year's Paris Olympics.

All Russian and Belarusian athletes have been banned from competition "for the foreseeable future" since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

That includes the option of competing as a neutral. "I don't have a crystal ball, I follow world events in the same way that you all do," Coe told journalists after his re-election as head of track and field's world governing body. "Our position is very clear.

The Council has made that position clear. The new Council -- and I'm not going to speak for them in advance -- but I would be very surprised if there is any shift in that position We have certainty and we've done it for reasons of integrity of competition." Coe added: "We will of course monitor that situation.

Sporting athletics track Paris Olympics Russia Ukraine Belarus

Neeraj Chopra needed just one big throw to qualify for 2024 Paris Olympics and the World Championships javelin throw final, pulling off a commendable first-attempt of 88.77m in Budapest on Friday. Not only Chopra but DP Manu (81.31m) and Kishore Jena (80.55m) also made the cut as three Indians qualified the final of an event in the World Championships for the first time ever. The 2024 Paris Olympics qualifying mark is 85.50m. The qualifying window had opened on July 1. The 25-year-old Chopra's qualifying round lasted just a few minutes as he sent the spear to his season's best distance in his very first attempt in the Group A qualification round. He topped the qualification round.

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