Tag Archives: Olympics

Skier out of Olympics, Citing Violence in Ukraine

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A Ukrainian skier has withdrawn from the Olympics to protest the deaths of anti-government protesters in her country.

Bogdana Matsotska tells The Associated Press “I don’t want to participate when in my country people die.”

The 24-year-old skier is refusing to ski in Friday’s slalom, her third and best event at the Sochi Olympics.

Matsotska says Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych “has to be jailed, and for a long time … for all the lives that he took.”

Matsotska wants to join protesters in Kiev’s Independence Square but says she’s been unable to book a flight home.

 

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Report: German president to boycott Olympics in Russia over human rights

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German President Joachim Gauck will boycott the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, according to a report Sunday.

The announcement would make Gauck, a former pastor, the first major political figure to boycott the Games, which will be held at the Black Sea resort in February.

According to a report in the German publication Der Spiegel, Gauck made the decision in protest against human rights violations and the harassment of Russian opposition political figures. The magazine said the Russian government was informed of his decision last week.

The German presidential office could not be reached for comment Sunday. Russia’s Presidential Press Service said there was no immediate official reaction to the report.

Germany’s presidency is largely ceremonial; Chancellor Angela Merkel oversees the government.

Some athletes have spoken out against Russia’s new “propaganda” law that bans even discussion of homosexuality anywhere that children might hear it.

 

Putin: Gays, lesbians welcome in Sochi for Olympics

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Russian President Vladmir Putin says everyone will be welcomed to next year’s Winter Olympics in Russia, regardless of sexual orientation — comments that come on the heels of a controversial Russian law on homosexuality.

Putin made his latest assurances on the matter on Monday as he welcomed International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and other sports officials to his summer residence in Sochi — the Black Sea resort town where the Games will happen in February — state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Putin also said in an interview on state television in September that gay people would not be discriminated against at the Sochi Games. But that appeared at odds with statements made by government officials that the anti-gay propaganda law would be enforced.

The IOC in August said it received assurances “from the highest level of government in Russia” that the law would not affect people attending or taking part in the Games. The next month, the IOC said the law did not violate the Olympic Charter

In August, U.S. President Barack Obama rejected calls for his country to boycott the Games, saying such a move would hurt American athletes who trained and sacrificed to qualify.