European lawmakers urge for Olympics ban on Russia, Belarus

By GRAHAM DUNBAR
AP Sports Writer

GENEVA (AP) — European lawmakers have urged the International Olympic Committee to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from the 2024 Paris Games because of the war in Ukraine. Lawmakers at the 46-nation Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe say it’s preferable to the IOC continuing to seek ways to let individual athletes from the two countries compete as neutrals in international sport. A PACE committee hearing in Strasbourg, France, will help draft a future report on the question of barring athletes and officials from the Olympic movement because of the military invasion of Ukraine.