Dhe federal government is putting the German associations under pressure. Travel to competitions with athletes from Russia and Belarus are no longer eligible for funding, the Ministry of the Interior informed all associations supported from Berlin on Wednesday. According to the company, this threatened funding freeze should not prevent athletes from participating in international competitions and title fights. However, the associations are expected to work internationally to exclude those who supported the countries that invaded Ukraine.
Internationally, the swimming association as well as those for tennis, cycling, biathlon, judo and skateboarding allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate as neutral athletes. The International Paralympic Committee initially intended this for its Winter Games, but had to exclude the teams under pressure from its member organizations.
The majority of international sports organizations have canceled their events in Russia and Belarus, banning athletes from these countries from competitions. The German Swimming Federation would, if Fina stuck to its policy, at the World Championships in July in Budapest and at the European Championships in Rome the following month, sit on its travel expenses.
The e-mail from the Ministry of the Interior begins by pointing out that organized sport in Germany has taken a clear position on the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, which violates international law. The threat of not paying travel expenses to competitions only follows at point three. First of all, it is announced that travel to Russia and Belarus and to areas occupied by these countries will not be supported with donations, even if training camps or competitions are held there.
Then it says: “Participation in and implementation of training and course measures, competitions and other sporting events with athletes from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus at home and abroad are not eligible for funding.” Costs that have already been incurred can be reimbursed in Administrative German: The reversal of the measures mentioned is eligible for funding.
The world athletics association World Athletics was the first to introduce the status of neutral athletes and anchor it in its statutes when it suspended the Russian Athletics Federation in 2015 because of its systematic doping. This year, starting with the World Indoor Championships in Budapest the weekend after next, up to twenty athletes from a pool of 55 neutral athletes from Russia should be allowed to compete for the title. These qualify by subjecting themselves to additional and convincing doping controls. World Athletics banned Russian and Belarusian athletes on March 1 “for the foreseeable future.”