Dhe President of the Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, rejects the re-admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competitions, which the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its President Thomas Bach have been pushing for. He made the Ukrainian position clear to the IOC President, said Zelenskyj on Wednesday evening after a conversation.
He wrote on Twitter: “I noted the support for Ukrainian athletes. Urged to help rebuild Ukrainian sports facilities destroyed by the Russian Federation. Angry at plans to allow athletes from the Russian Federation and Belarus to return to world competitions. As long as the Russian Federation destroys innocent lives – only isolation.”
On his Telegram channel, he added: “Since February, 184 Ukrainian athletes have died as a result of Russian actions, and Russia uses sport for propaganda purposes. I brought this up in conversation with Thomas Bach. A fair response to a terrorist state can only be comprehensive exclusion from the international stage, that applies to international sporting events.”
IOC: Conversation was “open and constructive”
An IOC statement on Thursday said the talks between Bach and Zelenskyj were “open and constructive,” and Zelenskyj thanked the IOC in particular for the $7.5 million relief fund. Then the IOC also mentions the open dissent: Selenskyj demanded the “isolation of Russia and the Russians from the world community”, this must also apply to athletes. Among other things, Bach explained the adherence to the ban on hosting international sporting events in Russia and the Russian flag and anthem. They agreed to stay in touch.
Bach and the IOC have been working for months on the return of Russian athletes under a neutral flag. Following the unleashing of the 2014 war against Ukraine in February, Russian athletes are banned from most international sporting events to protect themselves from retaliation by Ukrainian athletes or those friendly governments, according to the IOC’s argument.
The “Olympic Summit” that Bach had invited to in Lausanne last Friday went as planned. The event ended with a closing statement saying the “vast majority” of attendees supported Bach’s position, which justified his strategy by saying that the “fabric of the Olympic movement was at risk” and that athletes should not suffer at the hands of their governments .
As always, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, President of the Russian National Olympic Committee, was invited to Lausanne. After the partial mobilization of the Russian population for the war of aggression announced in September, he declared that it was an honor for every Russian athlete to contribute to the success of the war could contribute. Representatives of Ukrainian sports were not invited. Suzanne Lyons, President of the United States National Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), then stressed to the Wall Street Journal that she understood Bach’s position. The 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles. The USOPC also hopes that Salt Lake City will host the 2030 Winter Games.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) told the FAZ last week that “sport should remain consistent in its condemnation of this inhuman war”. Maximilian Klein, responsible for international sports policy at Athletes Germany, pointed out to the FAZ the importance of Russian athletes for Vladimir Putin’s propaganda. In view of the ongoing war, athletes in Germany “still do not want to ask about the re-admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes. World sport must go much further and systematically exclude officials, associations and also the NOKs of the two countries.
The Ukrainian skeletoni Wladyslaw Heraskevych, who four weeks ago warned in the FAZ about the return of Russian athletes, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday: “We shouldn’t pretend in sports arenas that everything is normal. While the representatives of a terrorist state are tolerated, Russia fires another missile at Ukraine, killing innocent people.” Heraskevych wrote that those who use sport to whitewash war crimes are killing the Olympic movement.
