IOC, Macron reject Israel boycott call at Paris Olympics

The head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and French President Emmanuel Macron rejected Tuesday a Palestinian demand that Israel be barred from the Paris Games over the war in Gaza.

As the Israeli team settled into the Athletes’ Village, the IOC studied a letter from the Palestine Olympic Committee asking for a ban on Israel, citing the bombings of the besieged Gaza Strip as a breach of the Olympic truce.

The letter, sent days before Friday’s opening ceremony, “emphasised that Palestinian athletes, particularly those in Gaza, are denied safe passage and have suffered significantly due to the ongoing conflict”.

It said “approximately 400 Palestinian athletes have been killed and the destruction of sports facilities exacerbates the plight of athletes who are already under severe restrictions”.

But IOC president Thomas Bach indicated that he would not be drawn into “political business”. 

He added: “The position of the IOC is very clear. We have two National Olympic Committees, that is the difference with the world of politics, and in this respect both have been living in peaceful co-existence,” he told a press conference in Paris.

“The Palestinian NOC has greatly benefitted. Palestine is not a recognised member state of the UN but the NOC is a recognised National Olympic Committee enjoying the equal rights and opportunities like all the other NOCs.”

The Palestinian call highlights how the rising death toll in Gaza — 39,090, according to the latest estimate from the Hamas-run health ministry — and the growing humanitarian crisis is impacting the Paris Games.

Some left-wing French politicians have also called for Israel athletes to be barred in the same way as Russian and Belarussian athletes have been stripped of the right to compete under their national colours over the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“Israeli athletes are welcome in our country,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday.

“They must be able to compete under their colours because the Olympic movement has decided it,” he told France 2 television in an interview, adding that it was “France’s responsibility to provide them with security”.

“I condemn in the strongest possible way all those who create risks for these athletes and implicitly threaten them,” he said.

‘Best village’

Competitors flooded into the Olympic Village in northern Paris, with national flags hanging from many windows. 

Some of the biggest names set to perform at the Olympics — American gymnast Simone Biles and Spanish tennis pair Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz — have been spotted at the village.

Reviews of the food and accommodation were broadly positive, but some people reported issues with the transport to and from sports venues.

“Usually at Olympics, the transport takes a bit of time to work out,” Tom Craig, a striker in the Australian hockey team, told AFP. 

“We’ve heard about some teams getting taken to the wrong venue, but it hasn’t happened to us. One day we got a bit lost, but it was fine.”

American gymnastics coach Sam Mikulak, a veteran of four Olympics, praised the village as the best he had seen.   

“Ten out of 10. It’s the best set-up, the best conditioning space (gym), very organised,” he told AFP. 

Dujardin out

Meanwhile, Britain’s joint most decorated woman Olympian, dressage specialist Charlotte Dujardin, withdrew from the Games after a video emerged showing her making “an error of judgement” during a coaching session.

It was not immediately clear what three-time Olympic champion Dujardin had done but Olympic and equestrian authorities have taken an increasingly strict line against alleged improprieties relating to the treatment of animals in recent years.

During the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, a German modern pentathlon coach was thrown out the Games for striking a horse.

In other developments, as organisers put the final touches to the opening ceremony on the Seine, videos posted online showing US pop star Lady Gaga in Paris sparked rumours that she will be among the performers.

The line-up for the ceremony, the first time a Summer Olympics has opened outside of the main stadium, is yet to be fully announced.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said she hoped the weather would be fine for the ceremony after rain on Tuesday.

“We don’t make the weather so we will anxiously watch what it will be like on July 26, but we will make do and they will be exceptional Games,” she told journalists.