Bach: “There will be six to eight Palestinian athletes in Paris”

The president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, confirmed the participation of Palestinian athletes in Paris 2024 during an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP), last Friday at the headquarters of the IOC in Lausanne.

“We assume the clear commitment that, if no (other) Palestinian athlete qualifies on the pitch, the Palestinian National Olympic Committee will enjoy the invitations,” said Bach, referring to the mechanism for awarding places to those with no qualifiers implemented by the IOC under the premise of ensuring “Olympic universality” beyond sporting merits.

To date, Palestine has two guaranteed places in Paris 2024: the taekwondo player Omar Yaser Ismail will compete in the -58 kg category after the ticket obtained in March in the Asian qualifier in Tai’an, China, and there will be a competitor in the individual dressage equestrian event, thanks to the qualification in Doha, in February 2023, prior to the start of the war.

The announcement, in which the German leader estimated the total number of Palestinian representatives (between qualifiers and guests) at “between six and eight”, came in a context of imminent ranking closures, multiple pre-Olympic events and other contests with tickets at stake, several of them exempt from a Palestinian presence mainly because of the damage to sports training facilities resulting from the war between the State of Israel and Hamas.

At a meeting held on Wednesday, April 18, Bach had reiterated to the head of the Palestinian Olympic Committee, Jibril Rajoub, his commitment to supporting athletes. In the statements given to the AFP, he insisted that “from day one they supported in many ways to allow them to participate in the classifications and continue their training.”