The Olympic invitation system is not reserved for Palestinians but for any NOC that fails to qualify athletes, in the name of “Olympic universality” making it possible to bring together all nations, beyond just the sporting elite.
Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach says: the opening ceremony “will be unforgettable”
The arrival of Palestinian athletes in Paris remains a major question since the Israeli military offensive in Gaza, following the attack launched by Hamas on October 7, notably destroyed most of the sports infrastructure.
Thomas Bach received the president of the Palestinian NOC, Jibril Rajoub, last week in Lausanne, promising to continue the IOC's support for the athletes, but also to ensure the coordination of international efforts to rebuild the destroyed installations.
If the head of Olympism called from the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas for “a peaceful solution”, he also adopted a treatment very different from that of the Russian war in Ukraine, which resulted in a series of sanctions against Russian sport.
The IOC hides behind its “two-state solution”, since the Israeli and Palestinian NOCs have coexisted since 1995, a legacy of the Oslo peace process. Moreover, “there was no violation of the Olympic Charter, neither by the Israeli committee nor by the Palestinian committee”, insisted Thomas Bach on Friday, while the Russian NOC had placed sports organizations in occupied Ukrainian regions under its control.
