Participation of Russians in the Olympic Games is tearing the international sports world apart

Participation of Russia and Belarus in the Olympic Games remains a hot topic. The Games will start in Paris in 429 days and the big question is whether Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed to participate. This applies not only to the Games, but also to the qualifiers.

In tennis, cycling and fencing, the Russians do participate under a neutral flag. But in other sports, such as athletics, badminton and skating, the athletes are not welcome.

Ukraine even threatens to boycott the Games and sporting events if Russians are welcome. According to Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Gutzeit, 289 Ukrainian athletes have been killed and 363 sports facilities destroyed. “In Ukraine, our athletes no longer have a place to train. Our athletes train while the air raid siren sounds. They don’t sleep at night because of missiles and drones,” says Gutzeit. Ukraine receives support from 35 Western countries that are also against Russian participation, even under a neutral flag.

Ukrainian football player Oleksandr Drambayev played for FC Mariupol. Because of the war he had to flee to Belgium. Drambayev is against the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes. The Belarusian heptathlon star Yana Maksimava talks about the difficult situation she is in. She and her husband protested against the Belarusian regime and had to flee to Germany.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) believes that athletes flying a neutral flag should be welcome during sports competitions. That means sports without a Russian flag, no national sportswear and no national anthems. According to the IOC, excluding athletes based on their nationality would violate human rights. However, the IOC has drawn up various conditions for the participation of individual athletes.

For example, athletes may not have ties to the military or security services, or publicly support the war. The Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC*NSF) follows the line of the IOC, but has doubts about the conditions. “We all know that there is conscription in Russia, so all men from the age of eighteen have to join the army. How can you then indicate that someone has no relationship with the Russian army? How can we find out that someone has not practiced propaganda for the war and until when are we going back?” Herbert Wolff, director of international affairs at NOC*NSF, wonders.

The cabinet is against the participation of Russian athletes under a neutral flag. “There are all kinds of possibilities that Russian athletes will express themselves in a way during the Games. That really seems like an impossible situation for Ukrainian athletes. That is why we are against this,” said Minister Conny Helder of Sport. If Russian athletes are welcome after all, Helder does not rule out a Dutch boycott of the Games either.

Training in a war zone. See pictures from Ukraine here.

The decision whether Russian and Belarusian athletes can participate in the Olympic Games is therefore up to the IOC. But for the qualifications for international tournaments, the decision rests with the international sports federations. As a result, Russian tennis players, for example, can again participate in competitions under a neutral flag.

NOC*NSF explains that the national sports association still has to register an athlete when participating under a neutral flag. For heptathlete Maksimava, that is the Belarusian athletics federation. It seems unlikely that the union will register her, because she has openly spoken out against the regime. There is still a chance that Maksimava can participate in the Olympic refugee team.