00:00What I'd say more generally is we have addressed from the beginning the situation of Ukrainian sports, Ukrainian athletes, since the Russian invasion.
00:09And the IOC fully understands the desire of athletes to remember friends, colleagues who've lost their lives in that conflict.
00:19And, by the way, in many, many other conflicts, many other difficult conflicts around the world.
00:25There was an informal meeting last night with Mr. Garasevich's coach and entourage, the delegation, and we understood, we reiterated our understanding of the athletes' wish to pay tribute to his fellow Ukrainian athletes expressing his sorrow, which he's done during training and on social media.
00:50So, he has expressed his feeling in both those cases.
00:57And it's fundamental that there are equal rights for all athletes and that the games need to be separated, not just from political and religious, but from all types of interference, call it interference,
01:11and that so that all the athletes competing can concentrate on their performance.
01:20We feel that this is a good compromise in the situation.
01:24He can wear – we've said to him that we will, of course, make an exception so that he can express his mourning in that way.
01:34Freedom of speech doesn't exist anywhere in the world.
01:37You know, you can't go into a crowded shopping centre and shout fire.
01:40You know, everyone knows that there are rules.
01:43There are rules, and so our rule is that we have to protect the field of play.
01:49Yes, it's difficult, and there will always be people who try to, you know, not gain the system, because we understand why they're doing it, but that's why we have to have a strict rule.
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