In May 2024, the international press reported on the composition of the Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in which two Cuban athletes were included with no justification.
The ROT was publicly presented as a group of young athletes “uprooted by war or persecution.”
From that moment on, we established formal and respectful contact with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in order to clarify this unfortunate situation, taking into account that the members of the IOC executive board acknowledge the fact that none of these Cuban athletes are uprooted by war or persecuted.
The decision to include these Cuban athletes in the ROT was adopted without the knowledge of the Cuban Olympic Committee and with the clear purpose of harming 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 those Cuban athletes, just as we have nothing against many other Cuban athletes and coaches who live or pursue their careers in other countries.
In that context, and in the spirit of finding a constructive solution, we officially informed the IOC that as a National Olympic Committee we were willing to allow the participation of these athletes in the Olympic Games, representing the countries in which they reside, and which they have sometimes represented in international competitions.
Regretfully, one of the two athletes now included in the ROT has made disrespectful and false political statements against his country, his people and the sporting movement that led him to become an Olympic champion in Tokyo 2020.
This confirms Cuba's concerns about the true political motivation of the inclusion of athletes of Cuban origin in the ROT despite the fact that IOC officials had assured that these athletes 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.
In view of this fact, and taking into account that the IOC has yet to pronounce itself on our most recent message in this regard, the COC is forced to publicly report this situation and demand the immediate expulsion of this athlete from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in accordance with the rules governing the International Olympic Movement.
The COC reaffirms its strongest refusal to the inclusion of Cuban athletes in the ROT, as part of the political manipulation of sports.
The Cuban Sports Movement demands the IOC to fulfill its responsibility to uphold the principles of the Olympic Games.
CUBAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE
Paris, July 23, 2024