Inside the Games: Today the NOC of Belarus May Be Suspended from the Olympics

This will be the case if the IOC Executive Board decides that repression against athletes continues.

Today a meeting of the IOC Executive Committee will take place, which will be held in the format of a videoconference.

Among other things, the agenda includes a discussion of the situation with the NOC of Belarus, as well as reprisals against athletes who express their civil position.

According to Inside the Games (translated by Tribune), it is expected that the issue of the participation of the Belarusian team in the Olympics under the national flag will take an important place on the agenda of the IOC Executive Committee.

The IOC has previously launched an investigation into the NOC of Belarus.

More than 100 athletes have reportedly been barred from sporting events in Belarus since the signing of an open letter calling for an end to violence against peaceful anti-government protesters.

In December, the IOC executive committee ruled that the actions of the NOC of Belarus contradicted the Olympic Charter and imposed sanctions on the leadership of the committee.

The sanctions included a ban on Aliaksandr Lukashenka, his eldest son Viktar, first vice president of the NOC of Belarus, and other members of the NOC's executive committee from attending Tokyo 2020 and the end of all financial support.

Inside The Games reports that if at today's meeting the IOC Executive Board decides that athletes protesting against Lukashenka are still discriminated against, then further measures could be taken, including the removal of the National Olympic Committee and forcing its athletes to fly the Olympic flag.