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Nearly four years after Russia violated the Olympic Truce invasion of Ukraine Just days after the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, the UN is calling on all countries to respect a truce this time around.
The statement was made in UN General Assembly On Wednesday, a proposal to end hostilities during one of the world's top sporting events could become “a tool to promote peace, dialogue, tolerance and reconciliation” ahead of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games.
The adoption of the resolution by consensus in the 193-nation world body was greeted with applause from diplomats, the International Olympic Committee and sports officials.
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A crew member rushes to correct the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics logo before the launch ceremony in Beijing, September 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Giovanni Malago (Italy)The President of the Organizing Committee of the Winter Olympic Games presented the resolution.
“In times of growing divisions and conflicts, sport and the Olympic Games can be a beacon of hope, an alternative to rivalry and divisions,” he said.
The resolution recalled the ancient Greek tradition of Ekeheiria, or Olympic Truce, designed to promote a peaceful environment and ensure safe passage and participation of athletes in the games, “thereby mobilizing the youth of the world for the cause of peace.”
International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry told the assembly shortly before the resolution was adopted that in a world where “conflict and division continue to cause untold suffering,” the Olympic Games “can offer a rare space where people meet not as opponents but as fellow human beings.”
She said that Olympic Truce is “a call to put aside what divides us and focus on what unites us.”
However, she emphasized that athletes cannot do this alone.
Coventry called on all countries to “keep sport and politics separate” and ensure athletes are not denied visas for politically motivated reasons. She said athletes “shouldn’t be judged by where they come from, but rather by their athletic merit.”
Coventry's appeal not to refuse visas comes weeks after a global scandal when the Indonesian government refused visas to the Israeli gymnastics team for the World Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta. As a result, the IOC recommended that international competitions should not be held in Indonesia and stopped all discussions about a country hosting future Olympic Games.
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina and Milan will take place from February 4 to 26.
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Russia violated The Olympic Truce three times in 14 years, waging war with Georgia over the disputed territory of South Ossetia during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, and launching a military coup that annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula after the Sochi Winter Olympics were closed in 2014, then broken again in 2022.
Russia was banned from the 2024 Paris Olympics due to its invasion of Ukraine. However, Russian athletes acted as neutral participants and were allowed to attend the closing ceremony.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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