In addition to the political and economic punishments against Russia, the world of sport has followed the wave of sanctions initiated by Western organizations. Without the World Cup, or international competitions of all kinds of sports, the Russians are excluded by boycotts that had happened before, but that have not always been applied to all the countries questioned for their actions against human rights.
“Sport and politics have been mixing since ancient times”, this is how the popular Argentine sports journalist Gonzalo Bonadeo began his speech in conversation with France 24.
It is the point he makes before entering to assess the sanctions issued in the world of sports against Russia. And also against their athletes. “If it is a pressure against Vladimir Putin, so that through public opinion he loosens the intensity of the conflict, the sanctions are fine; if they go beyond time, it would be an injustice,” Bonadeo said about sports embargoes, who also recalled the example of the sanctions against South African athletes due to ‘Apartheid’, which had positive effects.
Following that example, this Monday, February 28, FIFA expelled Russia from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) also recommended expelling all Russian athletes from the competitions. Here is a review of the most prominent sanctions:
Without the World Cup, but neither international sports competitions
Despite having organized the last World Cup in 2018, Russia has been excluded by the International Football Federation to participate in the Qatar edition that will be held between November 21 and December 8.
FIFA, in a joint statement with UEFA, announced the suspension of Russian teams and national teams “until further notice.” This came after pressure from the Polish national team, which was due to play the World Cup play-off on March 24 against the Russian team, in a match they refused to play. In the Europa League, a soccer club competition, the elimination of Spartak Moscow qualified the German Leipzig for the quarterfinals. For its part, the Champions League final will be played in Paris, replacing the Russian city of Saint Petersburg.
The conflict unleashed by Russia has also affected sponsorships: UEFA broke with the Russian giant, Gazprom, one of the main sponsors since 2012. So did the German team Schalke 04 with the same sponsor, and, for its part, the English Manchester United broke up with the Russian airline Aeroflot. Surprisingly, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich handed over “management and administration” of Chelsea to the English club’s charitable foundation.
In addition to football, the blockade has reached Formula 1; the car test of the Russian Grand Prix, which takes place in Sochi, was suspended. While the Haas team decided that it will not wear the Russian colors of its sponsor Uralkali. For his part, Nikita Mazepin, the team’s Russian pilot, could be expelled.
Also on Monday, the IOC had recommended excluding Russians and Belarusians from sports competitions, in addition to withdrawing the Olympic Order from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The international boxing and swimming institutions suspended all competitions that were to be held in Russia; In the volleyball world championships, which are due to be played between August 26 and September 11, France and Poland have threatened not to compete if Russia remains in the competition. For its part, the International Hockey Federation suspended the Russian and Belarusian teams. While Vladimir Putin, a judo practitioner, was suspended as honorary president and ambassador of the International Judo Federation.
Russian athletes against the war, affected by sanctions
But there has also been opposition to the sanctions as they harm athletes who have nothing to do with President Vladimir Putin.
In fact, some like tennis player Andrey Rublev, footballer Fedor Smolov, cyclist Pavel Sivakov, and even ice hockey star Alex Ovechkin have spoken out against the war.
For Gonzalo Bonadeo, in his analysis for France 24, at some point it will be necessary to opt again, as in the past, for athletes who can compete without an anthem or flag and who do so as stateless persons.
A brief review of the history of sanctions in sport
Although international sport has historically boasted of neutrality and geopolitics, sanctions are not new: “Institutions such as FIFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have a history that allows me to doubt these decisions, they are not consistent with the past Bonadeo assured.
During the France 24 broadcast, the analyst recalled the JJ boycott. OO. of Moscow 1980, when the USSR invaded Afghanistan and countries like Argentina did not send athletes.
Also, the 1970 World Cup, played in Mexico: Israel participated, and therefore, North Korea decided not to play. After that, Israel stopped playing the Asian competitions and moved on to the European ones.
These are some examples of boycott. However, Bonadeo has also pointed out how in the JJ. OO. In the winter of 2014 in Sochi, or in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Vladimir Putin was also the president who had already participated in the war in Georgia, in Chechnya and in the invasion of Crimea, among other conflicts.
Competitions without boycott that are added to those of the past JJ. OO. of winter 2022 in Beijing, for the violation of DD. H H. of China against Muslim Uyghurs. Or the next World Cup, Qatar 2022, where the English tabloid ‘The Guardian’ denounces that more than 6,500 migrants have died in the construction of infrastructure. Bonadeo also looked back at the past, specifically the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, which no one boycotted despite being organized by a military dictatorship.
Differences in criteria in the organizations that Bonadeo even leads to doping. In the last JJ. OO. from Tokyo 2020 and Sochi 2022, the Russian Federation was excluded as a country, although not as an Olympic Committee. This, despite the fact that the doping numbers are lower than those of American athletes, but with the difference that the Russians have been accused of doing it due to a state policy.
France 24 with AFP
