There is no reason for the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to the international sports community and the Olympic movement. This was announced on Saturday by the German Interior Ministry, which oversees sports in the country, media reported. The ministry also criticized the position of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on this issue.
Recall that previous representatives of 35 countries, including the United States, Germany, France, Britain and Japan, at a virtual summit, unanimously rejected the IOC’s concept on this issue. and demanded a ban on the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus in the 2024 Games in Paris, and without any compromise.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took part in an online conference saying that the principles of Olympic neutrality cannot be applied in the context of the war launched by Russia against Ukraine.
Previously, Kiev had threatened to boycott the Olympics if Russian and Belarusian athletes participated. Other countries have so far refrained from such a categorical measure, but do not rule it out.
In turn, IOC President Thomas Bach called on Ukraine to abandon its intention to boycott the Games. At the same time, Bach is defending the decision taken by the organization he leads to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes in the main starts of the four-year period as neutral athletes, without flags or anthems.
A joint declaration of the coalition of 35 countries must be formulated and published in the coming days.
Moscow opposes any restrictions imposed on Russian athletes.
What’s behind Bach’s pathetic lyrics?
Thomas Bach is now trying to declare his absolute independence as the leader of world Olympism from any protests by states, noted sports commentator, blogger Kirill Nabutov in a commentary for the Russian service media. At the same time, according to him, the head of the IOC is transparently implying that ultimately everything is decided by the international sports federations, which are public organisations.
“Yes, that is exactly what is written in the documents,” he added. “But everyone fully understands what public organizations are worth in some countries, including Russia, and how, for example, the Russian National Olympic Committee is independent of the government.”
Therefore, here it is necessary to find out who and what benefits and, based on this, draw conclusions, said Kirill Nabutov. According to him, formally, governments do not really have the right to influence the decisions taken by national Olympic committees, but unofficially, the situation is often completely different.
“I don’t have an exact idea yet why this topic suddenly came to the fore,” he admitted. – There is a humanitarian catastrophe in the center of Europe (caused by the war in Ukraine), hundreds of people are dying every day. And we know whose fault it is. And they want to present the case in such a way that Russian athletes are, so to speak, outside of politics and therefore do not have to close the doors of international arenas. At the same time, the whole usual game of demagoguery resounds: “sport is communication, friendship of peoples” and so on … ”
Of course, there are a lot of questions here, the sportswriter reflects. In his opinion, a strange picture emerges: when Russia was accused of faults of a much more modest order (doping violations), the IOC immediately adopted a much tougher position towards Russia and its athletes. “At the same time, Bach does not state directly that a decision has been made, but only says that the International Olympic Committee is on the side of good, but not of evil, and so on… Too many fine words are And when they come from the mouth of a political figure, it leads to certain thoughts: something is wrong here, and is it “someone’s stigma in the barrel”?
At the same time, Kirill Nabutov believes that Western countries will not boycott the Games. It seems to him that when such great countries, including the United States, declare their opposition to admitting anyone to the Games, the whole world will take it seriously. It should also not be overlooked that among the main sponsors of the Games are American companies and companies from other members of the “coalition 35”, he concluded.
The strange game of the head of the IOC
Any hopes held in Moscow and Minsk that Russian and Belarusian athletes would once again be allowed to participate in international competitions, including the Olympics, were initially absolutely hopeless, says social psychologist and blogger Aleksey Roshchin. It seemed to him that such illusions had been artificially fueled by the authorities of Russia and Belarus in an attempt to alleviate somewhat the painful general impression of the international isolation in which they found themselves.
“Everyone understands that until the end of the so-called ‘special military operation’ there will be no softening of the West’s positions, especially with regard to cultural and sporting ties with the Russia and its ally,” the media source said. . – Today there is a real confrontation between the two forces. And the consolidated Western world simply cannot afford to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in Paris, as this will be seen by Moscow as a sign of weakness. I’m not even addressing the moral side of the issue here – that’s obvious.
Therefore, the rhetoric in the discussions about the participation or non-participation in the Games of the athletes representing the aggressor country can be arbitrary, but the outcome of the case is inescapable: they will not be allowed to enter Paris, declares Alexei Roshchin.
“There will be no change in the West’s approach to Moscow without significant geopolitical concessions on its part,” he said. – And as for Bach, he plays a rather strange game, the true causes of which remain to be discovered. Here we should not overlook the fact that the Kremlin goes to great lengths to lobby its interests and does not spare money for these purposes.
However, in no case will the IOC go against the consolidated opinion of the West, the blogger summed up.
