Ukrainian high jumper Mahuchikh insists Russians should be excluded from next year’s Paris Olympics

By GRAHAM DUNBAR
AP Sports Writer

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh has said since the start of the war that all Russian and Belarusian athletes should be excluded from the 2024 Paris Olympics. Mahuchikh does not understand why opinions have now changed at the International Olympic Committee. The Olympic bronze medalist says IOC president Thomas Bach supported excluding Russians last year. Mahuchikh says the situation in Ukraine has not changed. The 21-year-old Dnipro native says Ukrainians “will do everything possible that the Russians and Belarusians are not allowed to go” to next year’s Paris Games.