The debate about Russian athletes at the Summer Games is entering the next round. The IOC is faced with the question of whether Russia’s athletes will be allowed to take part in the Olympic ceremonies.
Thomas Bach’s IOC faces the next delicate decision in the ongoing Olympic debate about Russia’s athletes. Will the athletes from the country of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin be allowed to take part in the opening ceremony of the Summer Games in Paris on July 26th or will they be excluded from the planned spectacle with 160 boats on the Seine? The leaders of the International Olympic Committee want to answer this question on Tuesday at the start of their two-day deliberations in Lausanne.
The Paralympics bosses have already submitted. Russians and Belarusians, who are only allowed to take part as neutral athletes because of the war of aggression in Ukraine, are excluded from the opening and closing ceremonies for disabled athletes. This decision has not yet been made for the Olympics. However, shortly before the IOC executive meeting, the National Olympic Committees of the Baltic States pushed for a corresponding vote.
“We firmly believe that under no circumstances will you be able to take part in the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris,” wrote presidents Urmas Sõõrumaa (Estonia), Janis Buks (Latvia) and Daina Gudzineviciute (Lithuania) in a statement to the IOC. Letter addressed to Chief Bach.
Russia rules out Olympic boycott
Only after months of discussion did the Olympic umbrella organization make a controversial decision to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in the Paris Games. They are not allowed to compete under their own flag, their anthems are not played, and national symbols are prohibited from the competitions. Teams are not allowed to compete at all.
Because of these conditions, there has long been talk of a boycott of Russia’s Olympics, especially since the IOC has also suspended the country’s National Olympic Committee (ROC). The reason for this is that the ROC absorbed the four annexed Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia. This action was a “blatant violation of the Olympic Charter,” IOC President Bach recently confirmed. The International Court of Arbitration for Sport recently rejected Russia’s objection to the suspension.
A complete waiver of the start of Russian athletes in Paris is out of the question for Sports Minister Oleg Matyzin, despite all the wars of words in recent months. “My position is: We should not isolate ourselves, close ourselves off and boycott this movement,” said Matyzin. “We should maintain the possibility of dialogue as much as possible and compete,” the top politician added.
Critics fear Russian propaganda
These tones in turn fuel the concerns of critics of allowing Russian athletes to compete in the Olympics. There are no neutral athletes in Russia, Ukrainian Sports Minister Matwij Bidny recently told the German Press Agency. “They are being used for Russian propaganda,” Bidny warned.
There are still major doubts about how the IOC wants to ensure that the athletes from Russia who are eligible to compete really do not belong to the army or the security organs and do not support the war in any way. “Anyone who is being prepared by the Russian army sports clubs will not be there,” assured IOC Vice President John Coates. The IOC announced another independent procedure following the world associations’ review processes, but details remain unclear.
“At the moment it is not transparent,” said Ukrainian Sports Minister Bidny. The Athletes Germany Association also criticized the opaque situation and claims to have already identified rule violations.
Probably only a small number of Russian athletes
The Ukrainian Olympic Committee pointed out to the IOC that a number of Russians and Belarusians who were allowed to take part in the qualifying competitions did not meet the IOC conditions. A database has been created with screenshots and videos of 700 athletes from Russia who support Russian aggression against Ukraine, said Minister Bidny.
The fact that, according to IOC Vice President Coates, only a 40-strong delegation of participants from the country of the former sports power Russia will be in Paris is little consolation. In Tokyo in 2021, despite doping sanctions, 335 Russians took part. But the Baltic NOCs’ letter to the IOC states: “A single incident would be enough to turn the Olympic Games into a platform for supporting war.”
Source: Stern
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