Russia’s law banning gay propaganda toward minors doesn’t violate the Olympic charter, and Russia is ready to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, the International Olympic Committee said Thursday.
“The Olympic Charter states that all segregation is completely prohibited, whether it be on the grounds of race, religion, color or other, on the Olympic territory,” IOC Coordination Commission Chairman Jean Claude-Killy said in French, according to The Associated Press.
Killy said he was convinced Russia will respect the Olympic Charter.
“That will be the case, we are convinced,” he said. “Another thing I must add: the IOC doesn’t really have the right to discuss the laws in the country where the Olympic Games are organized. As long as the Olympic Charter is respected, we are satisfied, and that is the case.”
(An earlier version of The Associated Press story quoted Killy saying he was “fully satisfied” over Russia’s anti-gay law. The AP misquoted Killy and amended the story.)
Killy and the IOC Coordination Commission concluded its 10th and final inspection of Sochi before the opening ceremony Feb. 7.
“Our impression is unanimous, everything is very impressive,” Killy said, according to R-Sport. “Everything is almost in place, there are just a few minor things that have to be done, but those minor things, those details make a great difference,” he said without going into detail. “There are still a lot of things to be done.”
Killy, the triple Olympic Alpine skiing champion in 1968, said the commission deliberated for several days before reaching its conclusion on the anti-gay law, which was passed in June.
Killy’s statement agrees with what then-IOC president Jacques Rogge repeated in August:
“We have received strong oral but also written reassurances that there will be no discrimination for the people who will attend the Games in Sochi,” Rogge said. “We are going to inform all the National Olympic Committees and the athletes who want to have clarity that we are being comforted by the fact that the Russian Federation agrees to respect the Olympic Charter.”
In August, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a decree banning gatherings, rallies, demonstrations, marches and pickets for a 2 1/2 month stretch around the Olympics.
Sunshine splashed Sochi on Thursday, a welcome sight after floods and mudslides caused a state of emergency in the Olympic host city. Killy said there was no damage and that a similar event in February would not stop the Games.
“I understand this is a historic event,” Killy said, according to R-Sport. “It would go unnoticed during the Games.”
