The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recently announced that six athletes from Afghanistan, including three women and three men, will participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Mark Adams, the spokesperson of the International Olympic Committee, raised this issue in a press conference and said that the male athletes of Afghanistan will compete in the disciplines of shower, swimming and judo.
Mark Adams says that Afghan female athletes will participate in running and cycling.
He added that the formation of the gender-based team is a message to the caretaker government, which has limited the access of Afghan women and girls to sports.
“We made it clear that we wanted a gender-equal team and that’s what we got,” he stressed.
Adams says that none of the current government officials will be allowed to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The spokesperson of the International Olympic Committee said: “There will be no place for the current government officials in Paris itself. “No representative of the Afghan government will be eligible for the 2024 Olympic Games.”
This is despite the fact that the International Olympic Committee had previously announced that it is negotiating with the National Olympic Committee of Afghanistan and also with the sports authorities with the aim of removing the current restrictions on the access of women and young girls to sports in the country.
It should be said that the 2024 Olympics will be held from 26 July to 11 August (5 to 21 August) and the 2024 Paris Paralympics will be held from 28 August to 8 September (7 to 18 August) in Paris, the capital of France.
It should be noted that Afghan sports have not been spared from the strict measures of the current government and all sports fields in the women’s section have faced severe restrictions.
