MOSCOW, March 15 Honorary member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Norwegian Gerhard Heiberg believes that Russian athletes should be returned to international competitions when the situation in Ukraine returns to normal. At the end of February, the IOC recommended that international sports federations not allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in their competitions due to the situation around Russia and Ukraine. A number of international federations followed this recommendation, others allowed athletes in a neutral status. «The actions of the IOC turned out to be more decisive than I expected. We (the IOC) have always been careful, Russia is a great sports power. In such cases, you need to be careful, avoid sudden movements , but I had to react,» the Norwegian television channel TV2 quoted Heiberg as saying. At the same time, he noted that he did not consider tough sanctions on Russian sports justified. “It is now important for me that we think about how Russia and Belarus will return to international sports. We want to build a better world through sports, and all countries should participate in this process. Therefore, at the same time as the suspension, we must look forward and prepare for return of Russian and Belarusian athletes. They must return and have equal rights with others. We must return to the situation that we all enjoyed, «said the head of the organizing committee of the Olympic Games in Lillehammer 1994.
