Lukashenko: “You can’t tear the flag out of an athlete’s heart”
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko agrees to release Belarusian athletes to the Olympics, even if they compete there without national symbols.
He stated this today at a meeting with the Minister of Sports and Tourism Sergei Kovalchuk, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The fact that there is no symbolism (no flag, no anthem, etc.) is bad. But this is not a disaster. You can’t tear the flag and anthem out of the heart of a real athlete (not those who ran with you, and let them run there, they ran here as well as they run there). It must be in the heart if one is a real athlete. If he jumps, runs and plays, he must understand that he plays, first of all, for people. Not only for myself - for people, for my family, as an example for children, and then salary and other issues,” Lukashenko said.
He also called not to return athletes who fled the country after Belomaidan in 2020.
“They will never show results there, they are second-class people there,” Lukashenko said.
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