It was with an ultimatum that Volodymyr Zelensky reactivated the debate on the participation of Russian athletes in the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. On Friday, the Ukrainian head of state took a firm position: the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will have to choose between hosting Russian athletes or Ukrainian athletes.
“While Russia kills and terrorizes, the representatives of this terrorist state have no place in sports and Olympic competitions,” he insisted. We take stock of this heated debate.
What is Ukraine asking for?
The controversy arose at the end of January. Volodymyr Zelensky challenges Emmanuel Macron, during a telephone interview, inviting him to do everything so that Russian and Belarusian athletes do not have “their place” in Paris. In the process, the IOC establishes a roadmap to organize the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes under a neutral flag, provided that they have “not actively supported the war in Ukraine”. kyiv, which has been under Russian invasion for almost a year, then accuses the body of “promoting war”.
The Ukrainian authorities have since stuck to their guns. The mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, himself a former high-level boxer, reiterated loud and clear the desire to see the Russians excluded from the competition. “As a sportsman and former sportsman, there are principles that are clear: if you do not respect the rules, you are disqualified. It’s the same with the Russians: they kill civilians and have to pay for it, ”he assured our colleagues from Franceinfo.
Which countries support Ukraine’s position?
Several neighboring countries of Ukraine quickly showed their solidarity. Poland quickly opposed the presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes at the next Games. Same commitment for the Baltic countries, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.
“Russia continues its war against Ukraine, lamented in a tweet Edgars Rinkēvičs, Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Like all tyrannies, it uses sport for political ends. The IOC must not become complicit in propaganda efforts”.
In France, Anne Hidalgo, who nevertheless said she was ready at the end of January to include Russian athletes under a neutral banner in the competition, which her city will host, has turned around. “As long as there is this war, this Russian aggression on Ukraine, it is not possible to march as if nothing had happened, to have a delegation come to Paris, while the bombs continue to rain on Ukraine, ”she said at the microphone of Franceinfo on February 7.
Conversely, other states have distanced themselves from kyiv. This is the case of the Australian government, through the voice of Anika Wells, its Minister for Sports. “Respect for human rights and peaceful relations between nations are the foundation of international sport,” she insisted.
Finally, the recent speech by Martin Fourcade, former biathlete, president of the IOC and Paris 2024 Athletes’ Commission, also resonated in the sports world. On Norwegian television, the multiple Olympic medalist said: “I really believe in the values of sport, and I really think that no one should be banned from competition because of their passport or their nationality”, adding that he expressed in a personal capacity.
What does Moscow say?
Russian authorities on Saturday denounced Zelensky’s appeal. “The attempt to dictate the conditions for the participation of athletes in international competitions is absolutely unacceptable (…) We are currently seeing an undisguised desire to destroy the unity of international sport”, launched the Russian Minister of Sports , Oleg Matytsin.
This is not the first time that Russia’s participation in sporting events has been called into question. It is already under a neutral banner that Russian athletes have participated in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, then in the Winter Games in Beijing in 2022, due to the country’s conviction for institutionalized doping.
The IOC, sole decision-maker?
Faced with the position taken by the Ukrainians, Thomas Bach, the President of the IOC, sent a letter to kyiv in which he denounced this intransigence which, according to him, goes “against the fundamentals of the Olympic movement”. Ukrainian athletes “know how much we share their suffering”, he assured this Sunday from Courchevel, where the Alpine Skiing World Championships are organized. And to insist: “It is not up to the governments to decide”. “A rapporteur from the United Nations Human Rights Council told us that the exclusion of Russian or Belarusian athletes solely because of their passport is a violation of their rights”, he finally justified.
The French government, through the voice of Olivier Véran, its spokesperson, had also insisted from the middle of the week on recalling that the final decision was up to the IOC. “A decision must be made by the summer,” recalled the former Minister of Health. Tony Estanguet, at the head of the organization of Paris 2024, also relied on the opinion of the international organization. “It is up to the IOC to decide at the end whether the Russian delegation will be authorized to participate in the Paris Olympics,” he insisted.