LAUSANNE: Moscow鈥檚 criticism of Olympic restrictions on Russian athletes was beyond unacceptable and had reached a 鈥渘ew low,鈥� the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Wednesday.
鈥淚t goes beyond anything that is acceptable. To link the president (Germany鈥檚 Thomas Bach), his nationality and the Holocaust in the context of this issue reaches a new low,鈥� IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.
The IOC on Tuesday both barred Russian athletes from taking part in the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics on July 26 and criticized the Kremlin for planning to hold its own 鈥淔riendship Games鈥� to rival those held in the French capital.
Those decisions invoked the ire of the Kremlin, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying that they 鈥渄emonstrate how far the IOC has moved away from its stated principles and slipped into racism and neo-Nazism.鈥�
When Bach was asked about the comments, the German gave a curt reply before asking spokesman Adams to take over.
There are 鈥渕ore quotes coming from Russia that are extremely aggressive and since some of them are very personal also, if you allow I would like to ask Mark Adams to respond to this question,鈥� Bach said.
Adams added: 鈥淲e鈥檝e seen some very aggressive statements coming out of Russia today, but there鈥檚 one comment even which is going beyond that, we鈥檝e even seen one that links the president, his nationality and the Holocaust, and this is completely unacceptable and reaches a new low.鈥�