Sport in general and Olympism in particular seems to be inevitably doomed to be an extremely sensitive bargaining chip in everything that floats on the periphery of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.
Even among those of us who understand that this is a conflict that is unwanted by Ukrainians, the intensity with which every decision that sports organizations make to sanction or qualify Russian or Belarusian athletes risks turning these disciplines into something politically and humanely relevant far beyond what the athletes themselves are in a position to assume.
It has already been said on more than one occasion that there is no fair decision as long as the conflict of origin itself is not. However, it seems that any gesture that seeks to decompress tensions, to resume the path of inclusion without losing sight of the need for any qualified athlete to comply with the guidelines set out in this regard by the IOC seems to be the least ill-advised path.
And while it is understandable that some of these measures are repudiated by the authorities of the assaulted nation, we must be prudent and not confuse roles: the athlete is an athlete. The politician is a politician. The soldier is a soldier.
To such an extent, every resolution is complex that there is no uniformity of criteria between federations that, even though they live together under the Olympic umbrella, hold very different positions on the issue.
While waiting to know what decision the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will take regarding the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus in Paris 2024, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced that it will admit the presence of athletes from these two countries individually and under the condition of neutrality.
In Manama, Bahrain, the General Assembly of the IPC was held and the partial suspension of the National Committees of Russia (90 votes in favor, 56 negative and six abstentions) and Belarus (79-57) was defined. Before, there had been a vote for total suspension, but it was rejected.
“As a result of the decision of the General Assembly, all membership rights of the NPC of Russia and of the NPC of Belarus are suspended for two years (subject to revaluation at the next Ordinary General Assembly) with the exception that their athletes (and related support staff) will be able to participate individually and neutrally (this means without teams) in the Paralympic Games and World and Regional Championships and sanctioned competitions in the six sports for which the IPC acts as an international federation,” said the International Paralympic Committee in a statement and clarified: “In each case, this is subject to athletes and support staff meeting the conditions of participation established by the IPC Governing Board. These conditions will be published in due course.”
The resolution of the International Paralympic Committee had repercussions in Ukraine: the presidential adviser, Myjailo Podoliak, assured that “allowing Russians to participate in the Paralympic Games first prolongs the war and then encourages Russia to increase the levels of mass violence in Ukraine”.
Russia, for its part, beyond this decision, questioned the participation of athletes in the next Olympic Games due to the conditions that the IPC would impose for them to be present, including a public statement against the invasion of Ukraine.
“Several Olympic federations that hold competitions between Paralympic athletes required our athletes to sign statements during competitions in Europe. If this happens, our athletes will not go anywhere,” said the president of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC), Pavel Rozhkov, in a dialogue with the state agency TASS. In addition, he said that “for the first time, representatives of many countries, mainly Latin America, Asia and Africa, openly disagreed with the position of the IPC.”
The IOC has not yet resolved the situation of Russia and Belarus in Paris 2024
Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), was present at the International Athletes’ Forum held in Lausanne (Switzerland) and again mentioned “the unifying mission” of the organization while being open to allowing athletes “from all over the world” to be in Paris 2024.
For her part, the president of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, Emma Terho, said that “I have been moved by the honesty and courage that many of you have shown during these sessions, particularly in our discussion about neutral athletes. This is still a difficult topic, but I am leaving this Forum inspired and with valuable feedback.”
From October 15 to 17, in Bombay, India, the 141st session of the International Olympic Committee will be held and some communication is expected regarding the situation of athletes from Russia and Belarus at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
