Russia’s other war at the Olympics

by time news

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) proposed at the end of January the return of the Russian and Belarusian athletes to major international competitions. However, due to the controversial proposal, the UK Government will organize a summit on February 10 to address the possible ban on Russian athletes in the coming Olympic Games.

The initial initiative was immediately rejected not only by Ukraine, but also by other countries in the region, such as Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Riga, even threatening a boycott. This Monday the Czech Republic joined them. “At a time when the Ukrainian athletes die defending their countrythe participation of Russian athletes in the Olympic Games does not seem like a good idea to me”, declared the Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala as reported by EP.

In 2022, with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the IOC took several steps to point fingers at Russia and its ally Belarus for the invasion of Ukraine. Specifically, the main Olympic body prohibited athletes and sportsmen from both countries from participating in sports events under national symbols. This was in addition to the sanction imposed on Russia by the World Anti-Doping Agency in December 2019. Due to it, Russian athletes competed in the Tokyo games with a neutral flag and without their national anthem.

However, this 2023, with its sights set on the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the IOC has opted to allow Russians and Belarusians to participate in the event as “neutral” athletes as long as they do not show their banners and have not supported the invasion. These sanctions “are not negotiable” and the objective is for the sport to recover its “unifying mission”, said the president of the IOC, Thomas Bach.

The United Nations and the White House support the proposal as long as the conditions are met. “Athletes should not be discriminated against because of their nationality,” UN experts have pointed out this week, according to EP.

Ukraine charges against the Olympic Committee

Meanwhile, Zelensky and his officials consider that it is a measure that whitewashes the still active war in Ukraine and denounces that the IOC will benefit from money stained with the “blood of Ukrainians”.

In addition, Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba and presidential adviser Mikhailo Podoliak have alluded directly to the links between Russian athletes and the Army, and have accused the Olympic Committee of being “promoter of war, murder and destruction”.

The Ministry of Defense has also spoken on social networks to denounce Russian participation. In one of his posts he has included a video of an athlete in a Russian shooting competition along with images of the Bucha massacre. In another he has remembered one of the Ukrainian wingers who died at the front.

Neutral Russians accepted in world athletics

The world athletics federation (World Athletics) has authorized this Monday another six russian athletes to compete as neutrals in international events, despite the fact that athletes from this country are banned after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The world athletics governing body assured that the decision is valid until its next council meeting in March, reports EP. There it could be decided whether to lift the suspension of the Russian federation, in force since 2016 in relation to doping practices, and which only allows Russians to compete as neutrals after approval by World Athletics.

The last six athletes to have received the authorization are the high jumpers Nikita Anishchenkov and Nikita Kurbanov, the long jumpers Artem Chermoshanskiy and Danil Chechela, the long-distance runner Marina Kovaleva and the walker Maksim Pianzin.

They join 73 other Russians whose approval for the 2022 season was postponed until the council meeting in March, led by high jumper Mariya Lasitskene, a three-time world champion and 2022 Olympic gold medalist.

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