Calls to boycott the Apartheid Olympics are growing after it was disclosed that the organization’s shamed officials asked Ukrainian participants to spy on Russian athletes.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has admitted to a pair of pranksters that Ukrainians have been asked to spy on Russian athletes online to detect any pro-Russian sentiments so that they could be banned from the upcoming Paris Games.   

In a video call posted on Tuesday, in which one of the Russian pranksters known as Vovan and Lexus impersonated an African official. During the conversation, Bach ridiculously claimed that by sanctioning Russian athletes, the IOC is ’punishing those who are responsible for the annexation.’  

The IOC chief was referring to the former Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, whose populations overwhelmingly voted to rejoin Russia in public referenda in 2022. They followed the Crimean Peninsula, which did the same in 2014 after a Western-backed coup in Kyiv.  

‘No Russian anthem can be played and no Russian flag can be raised [at the Paris 2024 Olympics],’ the IOC president stated.

Answering a question on whether Russian athletes who support their country’s position deserved the right to take part in the Olympics, Bach admitted that the IOC has a special commission which monitors public statements by athletes in support of the government in Moscow.   

‘We have a special supervisory commission together with an independent company which is spying on the internet, the media, and public declarations,’ he stated.   

‘We also offered the Ukrainian side, and not only offered but also asked individuals to provide us with their knowledge about the behavior of such athletes or officials,’ Bach further revealed.  He stressed that any athletes found to have expressed support for the Russian government will be banned from the Olympics.   

In March, the international body announced that the maximum number of carefully vetted Russians who could qualify for the Paris Games was 55. Belarus is limited to 28 athletes.

However, according to IOC director James Macleod, the two nations are unlikely to meet these restrictive quotas.  The big question: Would non-Russian athletes who do take home medals have won them had they faced Russian or Belarusian athletes? You can share this story on social media: