– For everyone who cares about Ukraine and its athletes, this is a serious setback, says sports commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt on NRK.

At the congress in Bahrain, the Norwegian representative was disappointed with the results. Russia can participate as a neutral party.

– There was a tense atmosphere at lunch in the Nordic countries, said assistant secretary general Else Marthe Sørlie Lybekk of the Norwegian Sports Confederation.

At a congress in Bahrain, members voted on whether Russia should be excluded completely from the summer games in France.

As a result, 74 people refused, while 65 people refused.

13 abstained from voting.

– This cannot be called anything other than a major victory for Putin and his regime, and we can be sure that this decision will be exploited for propaganda purposes. Unfortunately, this also creates a precedent that shortens the path to Russian and Belarusian participation in the Paris Olympics, Saltvedt said.

On Friday afternoon it also became clear that Belarusian athletes would be allowed to participate.

74 people voted against a total ban, while 56 voted for it. 15 abstained from voting.

Congress then decides whether Russian and Belarusian athletes should be partially banned. Here, 90 people voted for and 56 against Russia, while 79 people voted for and 57 against Belarus, meaning athletes should not be allowed to compete under their own flag.

Instead, they will be able to participate as neutral players.

Skarstein participated

Vice-president Arne Dalhaug of the Norwegian Sports Confederation was also present.

– You served in Ukraine. How do you feel here?

– It was powerful to hear the contribution of the Ukrainian representative, who spoke about the consequences for sports, he said.

Dalhaug was a civilian observer for the OSCE in Ukraine between 2016 and 2018.

Birgit Skarstein was one of the delegates attending the general assembly in Bahrain. He participates as a member of the athlete committee at the IPC. NRK has tried to contact Skarstein.

The 34-year-old man helped count the votes and could not comment on the results until all votes had been completed.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, four days after the Winter Olympics in Beijing and eight days before the opening of the Paralympics in the same place. The invasion occurred during the “Olympic Peace”, which was supposed to ensure a ceasefire between participating countries in the two months following the Olympics and Paralympics.

Russia has violated the Olympic peace treaty on two subsequent occasions: when it invaded the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and when it became involved in the conflict between Georgia and the pro-Russian breakaway republic of South Ossetia in 2008.