World News for Students of English

15-02-2023 07:00

A group of 35 countries, including the United States, Germany, and Australia, will demand that Russian and Belarusian athletes are banned from the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy took part in the online meeting attended by 35 ministers to discuss the call for the ban, and he pointed out that 228 Ukrainian athletes and coaches died as a result of the Russian invasion. Ukraine has threatened to boycott the games if Russian and Belarusian athletes compete, and Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk said that Russians would win medals of blood, deaths, and tears if they were allowed to take part.

However, according to officials, it wasn’t time to talk about a boycott yet, because most participants of the meeting, except for Greece, France, and Japan, were in favor of an absolute exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes. Almost 18 months before the Olympics are due to start, the International Olympic Committee is desperate to calm the waters and not jeopardize the Games’ message of global peace, and it suggests that Russian and Belarusian athletes could compete as neutrals.

Difficult words: boycott (to refuse to buy a product or take part in an activity as a way of expressing strong disapproval), calm the waters (to restore peace or calm a person or situation), jeopardize (to put at risk).

You can watch the video news lower on this page.