On December 5-7th, 2022, Georgian-language Facebook accounts (1,2,3,4,5,6), as well as Kremlin propaganda media outlet Pravda.ru and Russian-language Facebook accounts (1,2,3,4,5,6) have been disseminating the information that according to President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, the participation of representatives of the LGBTQ+ community in the Olympic Games will be mandatory, and their minimum quota will be 10% of the athletes of each participating country.
Selected Facebook accounts have been disseminating the information with a video that features the logo of Euronews. The same video is circulating on the Telegram channel of Russian propagandist journalist Ruslan Ostashko, which Pravda.ru uses as a source.
The President of the International Olympic Committee did not announce that the participation of representatives of the LGBTQ+ community in the Games would become mandatory. The story ascribed to Euronews is fabricated, as it was never aired on Euronews.
The story that concerns the alleged initiative by Thomas Bach cannot be found on the Euronews’ website. Notably, the Euronews logo is attached to the video, and it combines shots of the Olympic Committee and Thomas Bach. The video is accompanied by music and text, which states that the President of the Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, has a new initiative, according to which 10% of the national teams of all countries at the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics should be composed of representatives of the LGBTQ+ community. To verify the information, “Myth Detector” contacted Euronews, which denied the authenticity of the video.
The press office of the International Olympic Committee also denied the validity of Bach’s statement. According to their comment to Myth Detector, reports regarding such an initiative are “completely false and factually incorrect.”
Some Facebook users have been spreading the news about the statement of the President of the Olympic Committee along with the screenshot of the article from the Cameroonian site 237online.com. The Google search engine shows that an article with a similar title indeed existed; however, it is no longer available.
Thomas Bach has expressed his position regarding the participation of LGBTQI+ persons in the Olympic Games a number of times. In a statement dedicated to Pride Month in June 2021, Bach noted that participation in sporting events without discrimination is a fundamental principle of the Olympic Movement.
In 2020, sexual orientation was added to the sixth point of the fundamental principles of the Olympic Charter, which concerns the inadmissibility of discrimination. In addition, the President of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Tony Estanguet, signed the LGBT+ Inclusion Charter at the Games, which aims to create an inclusive work environment and fight discrimination.
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