International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has used a speech to the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) to urge the sporting world to continue to support sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus.

President Bach said now is not the time to weaken or strengthen the sanctions that have been in place since Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year. He said and sport or national federations who tried to enforce extra sanctions, or tried to water down the current measures, would risk dividing the Olympic movement.

The full text of President Bach's speech can be found here.

President Bach said the war in Ukraine continues to represent a blatant violation of the principles of the Olympic Charter, and stressed the overriding need for unity in tackling the global challenges facing the sporting world.

He said he fully understnds the difficult position the war has placed the Olympic movement in.

“We cannot fully live up to our Olympic mission, which is to protect the athletes and to unite the entire world in peaceful competition," he said. 

"The only way to protect this mission was to recommend the non-participation of athletes just because of their passport.

“The fact that we cannot overcome our dilemma at this moment must not only not prevent us, it must even encourage us, to explore ways of how we can overcome it in the future.”

The ANOC General Assembly also elected Robin Mitchell as ANOC President from 2022-2026.

Both President Mitchell and Senior Vice President H.E. Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani were elected unopposed.

The International Canoe Federation will hold its 2022 Congress in Pattaya, Thailand, next week. ICF President Thomas Konietzko will urge delegates to remain united and to work together to ensure canoe sports continue to prosper into the future.

Pic by Greg Martin/IOC