IOC bans Belarusian President Lukashenko from Olympic Games

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided to temporarily ban Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, also head of Belarus' National Olympic Committee (NOC), from the Olympic Games.

The IOC Executive Board on Monday decided to "exclude the currently elected members of the executive board of the NOC of Belarus from all IOC events and activities, including the Olympic Games", read a statement on the IOC website.

"This includes, in particular, Mr. Alexander Lukashenko in his capacity as NOC President and legal representative of the NOC, Mr. Viktor Lukashenko in his capacity as NOC First Vice President and the person responsible for the NOC's operations and activities on a daily basis and Mr. Dmitry Baskov in his capacity as NOC executive board member," it added.

The IOC further said that it has come to the conclusion that it appears that the current leadership has not appropriately protected the Belarusian athletes from political discrimination within the NOC, their member federations or the sports movement.

"This is contrary to the fundamental principles of the Olympic Charter therefore seriously affecting the reputation of the Olympic movement," the statement read.

The IOC also decided to suspend all financial payments to the NOC of Belarus, with the exception of payments related to the preparations of the Belarusian athletes for, and their participation in, the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.