Belarus Olympic Chief Barred from Tokyo

(ATR) The putative president of the Belarus Olympic Committee will be barred from credentials for the Tokyo Olympics.

Saying it was "greatly disappointed" over the failure of the NOC to fully comply with demands that Belarus athletes should be protected from political discrimination, the IOC Executive Board is refusing to accept the recent election of a new president and two other NOC leaders.

The decision of the IOC EB came at a virtual meeting Monday.

The Feb. 23 vote in Belarus named Viktor Lukashenko as the new president, succeeding his father Alexander Lukashenko, NOC President since 1997. AlexanderLukashenko also serves as the country’s president, the only one to hold that post since 1994 when Belarus formed following the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. Viktor Lukashenko is the chief of security for Belarus.

The two are already under sanctions by the European Union following a national election last year deemed rife with fraud. Massive protests that followed were broken up with violence by security forces. Elite athletes who supported the opposition were targeted.

Barred from Tokyo credentials as well is Dmitry Baskov, another government official, who has a seat on the NOC executive board.

The IOC sanctions also include a freeze on IOC payments to the NOC, excluding scholarships for athletes under Olympic Solidarity .

Belarus sent 124 athletes to the 2016 Summer Olympics, competing in 21 sports.

Reported by Ed Hula.