На цьому 24 червня наголосив Міністр молоді та спорту України, президент Національного олімпійського комітету України Вадим Гутцайт, під час виступу на засіданні Виконкому ЄОК.

Вадим Гутцайт поінформував учасників заходу – членів Виконкому ЄОК, про стан справ в Україні та спортивній сфері в умовах війни. 

Він зазначив, що кожного дня цієї війни сфера фізичної культури і спорту України зазнає нових втрат. «З моменту повномасштабної військової агресії росії проти України наша спортивна спільнота втратила вже 317 спортсменів і тренерів. Постраждало 343 спортивних об’єкти, з яких 95 – повністю зруйновано», – повідомив Міністр. 

При цьому він подякував всій спортивній спільноті за безпрецедентну допомогу і солідарність, яку надала європейська олімпійська родина українським атлетам і тренерам, дітям з самого початку повномасштабної війни, яку розв’язала рф проти України.

«Без перебільшення хочу сказати, що завдяки підтримці європейської спортивної спільноти спортивний потенціал Україна було збережено і ми маємо можливість виступати на найбільших змаганнях Європи, серед яких Європейські юнацькі олімпійські фестивалі в Вуаккаті, Банській Бистриці, Фріулі-Венеції-Джулії», – заявив Вадим Гутцайт.

Міністр звернувся до національних олімпійських комітетів європейських країн скоординувати свої позиції  і робити нові кроки у підтримці України на шляху до перемоги.

«Позиція української сторони залишається незмінною: спортсмени країн-агресорок мають бути відсторонені від участі у міжнародному спорті у будь якому статусі, навіть нейтральному»,  – наголосив очільник профільного міністерства та олімпійського руху в Україні.

ТЕКСТ ЗВЕРНЕННЯ:

Statement of the President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine

Vadym Guttsait at the EOC Executive Committee meeting

June 24, 2023

Dear President Capralos,

Dear members of the Executive Committee,

Let me thank you for the opportunity to speak and convey to all European NOCs the position of Ukraine.

My country, where the war has been going on for the second year. A country that survived this winter without electricity, heating, water.

A country where hundreds of thousands of children were forced to temporarily leave their homes, tens of thousands stay in shelters during the air alerts, thousands live in war zones instead of studying and exploring this world.

A country where the war destroyed the happy future of thousands of families.

A country that is under constant missile attacks and where a person’s life can end at any moment, including mine.

In terms of the level of destruction, numbers of military equipment, weapons and human resources, as well as the number of victims, this war, unleashed by Russia with the support of Belarus, is the largest and most brutal in the history of the European continent since the Second World War.

And this can only be stopped by the unity around the key values and basis of peace: human life, human rights and freedoms, respect for every nation and person!

The last crime committed by the Russian Federation which shocked the world was the undermining of the dam of the Kakhovska HPP, the scale of which we all have yet to assess.

Every day of this war, the sphere of physical culture and sports of Ukraine suffers new losses. Since February 2022, our sports community has already lost 317 athletes and coaches. 343 sports facilities were damaged or completely destroyed. The amount of damage reached more than 250 million euro.

Taking this opportunity, on behalf of the entire Ukrainian Olympic community I would like to express my gratitude for the unprecedented help and solidarity provided by the European Olympic family to our athletes, coaches and children since the very beginning of the full-scale war unleashed by the Russian Federation against Ukraine.

Without exaggeration, I would like to stress that thanks to the support of the European sports community, Ukraine's sports potential has been preserved. Ukrainian team had the opportunity to participate in the largest sports events in Europe, including the European Youth Olympic Festivals.

While the war is going on, Ukrainian athletes are deprived of the opportunity to train and compete normally and just simply live in their own country in their homes with their families. Despite this, even under such conditions, the Ukrainian team of 263 athletes participates at the European Games.

Unfortunately, the recommendations of the IOC, which grant the right to Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in competitions as neutral athletes, do not contain provisions that would guarantee the safety of Ukrainian athletes at such events.

The Russians, their fans, the leaders of national federations of Russia behave aggressively. There are a lot of evidences of this, for example, fans at the Australian Open with flags of the Russian Federation or wearing T-shirts with Putin photo.

In addition, there are already frequent facts when Russian athletes who support the war were admitted to competitions and even received awards, like in judo and taekwondo.

At the same time, I want to emphasize that it was Russia and Belarus that violated the Olympic truce. It's no secret that the NOCs of these countries are under the full control of the governments. Besides, many members of the Olympic teams are service people of their armed forces.

I appeal to the National Olympic Committees of European countries to coordinate their positions and take new steps in support of our desire to fight for life for our country and our children in this difficult time.

The position of the Ukrainian side remains unchanged: the athletes of the aggressor countries should be suspended from participating in international sports in any status, even neutral.

Unfortunately, the EOC did not respond to the urgent request of the NOC of Ukraine and the Athletes' Commission of the NOC of Ukraine to conduct a discussion on the changed IOC's position regarding the admission of Russians and Belarusians. Our aim was to elaborate and present the joint position of the European continent during the IOC's consultations in March, 2023. I think that such discussions should be open and accessible to everyone.

I hope and expect for further support and solidarity of the European Olympic Committees, including your unchanged position regarding the ban on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions.

Thank you for your attention. Together to the Victory!