President kirsty coventry

European Weightlifting Federation: To safeguard the athletes from countries that have been sanctioned and penalised by the leaders of the Olympic movement, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has created the category of "Neutral Athletes," allowing sportspersons from those nations to participate in major global events under the IOC flag.

Currently, the status is used for sportspersons from Russia and Belarus as their national Olympic bodies are serving a suspension by the IOC since before the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games because of the war with Ukraine.

But now the chief of a global sports body has called for the IOC to end this practice of having "Individual Neutral Athletes" at the Olympics -- Summer and Winter -- and other competitions conducted under its auspices.