Statement by the Cuban Olympic Committee

In May 2024, the international press reported on the formation of the Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in which two Cuban athletes were unjustifiably included.

The ROT was publicly presented as a group of young athletes "uprooted by war or persecution".

From that moment on, we have been in serious and respectful communication with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), so that this regrettable situation would be clarified, taking into account that the IOC directors recognise that none of these Cuban athletes are uprooted by the war or persecuted.

The decision to include Cuban athletes in the ROT was taken behind the back of the Cuban Olympic Committee and with the clear objective of attacking the image of the national sports movement, which has given so much glory to our people.

We clearly informed the IOC that the COC supports the idea with which the ROT was originally conceived in 2015, and that we had nothing against Cuban athletes, just as we have nothing against many other Cuban athletes and coaches who live or develop their sporting careers in other countries.

In this context, and in the spirit of finding a constructive solution, we officially informed the IOC of our willingness as the National Olympic Committee to allow these athletes to participate in the Olympic Games, representing the countries where they live, and which they have sometimes represented in international competitions.

Unfortunately, one of the two athletes now included in the ROT has made disrespectful and fallacious political statements against his country, his people and the sporting movement that allowed him to become Olympic champion in Tokyo 2020.

This confirms Cuba's concerns about the true political motivation behind the inclusion of athletes of Cuban origin in the ROT, although IOC officials assured that the athletes in question would not make statements of this nature.

This is a violation of the Olympic Charter and the rules established by the IOC for all athletes participating in the Olympic Games.

Faced with this reality, and taking into account that the IOC has not pronounced itself on our most recent message in this regard, the COC is obliged to publicly report this situation and demand the immediate expulsion of the aforementioned athlete from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in accordance with the rules governing the International Olympic Movement.

The COC reiterates its strongest rejection of the inclusion of Cuban athletes in the EOR, as part of the political manipulation of sport.

The Cuban Sports Movement demands that the IOC fulfil its responsibilities to uphold the principles of Olympism.

CUBAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE

Paris, 23 July 2024