Latvia will not send athletes to the Olympics if Russians and Belarusians participate in it while the invasion of Ukraine continues.
If we have to make a decision now, we certainly will not go to such competitions. But the Paris Games are still a year and a half away. Let’s see what will happen in Ukraine – we hope that the Ukrainian people will win this war, and we will find ourselves in a new situation, – the country’s Olympic Committee said in a commentary to Reuters.
Last week, the IOC called on sports federations to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in neutral status.
Meanwhile, South Korean athletes are preparing an official letter to the Olympic Council of Asia demanding to clarify how this body will hold the current Asian Games with the participation of Russians and Belarusians.
Background
Currently, most international sports federations have suspended Russia and Belarus from participating in tournaments (although both countries have been reinstated in the boxing and tennis federations). In 2023, a significant part of the qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris will take place. So far, athletes from these countries cannot take part in it. They missed the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing. At the Olympics, which took place before the full-scale invasion, the Russians competed under a neutral flag – due to a doping-related disqualification.
And so, on January 26, at a meeting of the IOC Executive Board, the proposal of the Olympic Summit adopted in December to review the recommendations on the removal of Russians and Belarusians was considered.
On December 9, the summit participants continued the recommendations of the IOC on the suspension of Russian and Belarusian athletes and discussed their possible return. At the summit, it was decided that the ban of athletes from Russia and the Republic of Belarus contradicts the mission of “uniting the world in peaceful competitions” and prohibits athletes from competing only through their passport.
Part of the IOC members proposed to allow Russians and Belarusians to participate in competitions in Asia, while maintaining sanctions in other countries.
The positive decision of the IOC on January 26 is the ban on holding international competitions in Olympic sports in Russia and Belarus and preventing the appearance of the national symbols of these two countries on them (we are talking about the entire location of such competitions, including the stands). In addition, no politician from Russia and Belarus can be invited to international competitions.
In addition to the carrot, the whip also hit: in contrast to Zelensky’s statement that Russians should not be at the Paris Olympics, the IOC statement said about “respect for the right of ALL athletes not to be discriminated.” The IOC emphasized that governments of countries should not decide which of the athletes can compete and who can’t.
Once again the following was said:
None of the athletes should be prohibited from competing on the basis of a passport.
The IOC Executive Board named two possible conditions for the participation of Russians and Belarusians in the competition:
- They will compete as neutral athletes.
- Only those Russians and Belarusians who support the “peaceful mission of the IOC”, do not violate the anti-doping code and do not support the war in Ukraine will be accepted to the Olympics. At the same time, each athlete is promised to be checked individually for compliance with these provisions. The procedure will obviously be developed later.
There is no final decision by the IOC on the return of Russians and Belarusians to international sports, the final decisions will be made by the international federations.
The step of the IOC towards the Russians and Belarusians caused a storm of emotions and threats of a boycott of the Games in Paris.
After the demarche, the President of Ukraine published photos of Ukrainian athletes who train in buildings destroyed by the war. Zelensky logically substantiates Ukraine’s position:
First, Russia is removed from Ukraine, after that we can talk about Olympic values.
Frustrated by Bach’s statements, Zelensky recalled that he had talked with him more than once, but had never heard how he was going to defend sports from war propaganda. He invited the head of the IOC to Bakhmut to see for himself that neutrality does not exist. The President decided to involve the host of the Olympic Games 2024, Emmanuel Macron, in the game – he wrote him a separate letter.
Statements by Ukrainian officials were extremely tough
Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba recalled that Russia won 71 medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
45 of them were won by athletes who are also members of the Central Sports Club of the Russian Army – an army that commits lawlessness, kills, rapes, and robs. That’s who the ignorant IOC wants to put under the white flag, allowing them to compete, – said Kuleba.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov convinces that the favorite sports in Russia are shooting at residential areas, throwing missiles and diving the cruiser “Moskva”.
Advisor to the head of the Office of the President Podolyak did not restrain himself in his statements:
The IOC is a promoter of war, murder, and destruction that delights in watching Russia destroy Ukraine and then offers a platform to advertise genocide and encourage murder. Obviously, the ru-money bought by the Olympic hypocrisy does not smell of Ukrainian blood. Yes, sir Bach?
In the Baltic countries and Poland criticized the decision on the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus under a neutral flag. It was about the boycott that was mentioned in the statements of the heads of the foreign ministries and sports departments of these countries.
The Minister of Youth and Sports, as well as the newly minted president of the NOC of Ukraine, Vadym Gutzeit (like Bach, he is a former fencer), suggested that if Ukraine is not heard, it will boycott Paris.
But the profile committee of the Rada in a statement noted that it was opposed to the boycott of the participation of Ukrainian athletes in the Olympic Games 2024, because “to take the path of a boycott is to show weakness and give the international sports tribune to murderers, terrorists and rapists.”
To all this, the IOC replied that they “strongly reject slanderous statements that cannot serve as the basis for any constructive discussion.”
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.