Through the athletes’ lens: perspectives on competing at the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics amidst the Ukraine–Russia conflict

This study investigates elite athletes’ perspectives on competing at the 2024 summer Olympics and Paralympics in Paris. Indeed, the Olympics stand as a symbol of alliance, peace and prosperity, epitomised in its motto, citius, altius, fortius – communiter, meaning, faster, higher, stronger – together. However, the contemporary world in which the International Olympic Committee wishes to navigate its showcase event in 2024 and arguably the pinnacle of international sport, is anything but together. The war in Ukraine has caused a humanitarian and economic crisis across Europe, and Paris 2024 featured directly or indirectly as a geo-political playground. Therefore, using semi-structured interviews with eight elite athletes and Olympians past and present, the study captures the athletes’ voice specifically related to three main areas of inquiry: what are elite athletes’ views on competing against Russian and Belarusian athletes in Paris 2024, what are elite athletes’ views on the possibility of boycotts for Paris 2024 and how do elite athletes feel about the idea of podium protests in Paris 2024. To answer these questions, the article also explores ideas around the geo-politics of sport, soft power and public diplomacy and their relation to sport, the Olympics and Paralympics and elite level competition. To this end, this article contributes to the growing body of literature which analyses the relationship of sports, nations and geo-politics.