Ukraine draws up a blacklist of athletes or officials who supported the Russian invasion – Libération

It is an especially symbolic response to the decision of the International Olympic Committee to accept, under conditions and a neutral banner, Russian or Belarusian athletes at the Paris Games.

The event is called “Play the Game 2024”. Organized this week in Trondheim (Norway), it intends to work to promote “democracy, transparency and freedom of expression in world sport”. Episode 2587 of the series “Can the Russians participate in the Paris Olympics?” With the pitch, the publication by Ukraine ofa blacklist of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials who supported the Russian invasion in February 2022.

A mainly symbolic initiative, taken in response to the IOC’s decision to finally accept under conditions athletes competing under a neutral banner with a Russian or Belarusian passport at the Paris Games which are due to begin on July 26. Symbolic since of the 52 sports mentioned in this Ukrainian list, barely twenty will be present in Paris.

The officials of the Ukrainian ministry have in any case put their heart into the work and if raking were an Olympic discipline, they would undoubtedly be favorites. They searched CVs in the world of sambo, sumo, rally raid or orienteering to expand their list. And for each of the names mentioned, they dove into press archives or the depths of social networks to bring up articles, posts or tweets justifying their inclusion on their table. Which displays no less than… 153 representatives from the world of boxing. Among the “stars”, we find mainly exes: the former pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva (Olympic champion, triple Olympic champion), the swimmer Alexander Popov (quadruple Olympic champion in 50m and 100m).

Much more precise, at the beginning of January, a letter signed by more than 200 Ukrainian athletes alerted to the cases of at least three Russian athletes having stamped their tickets for Paris in 2023 despite ambiguous connections with the Russian authorities. These people are not “neutral”, but are “open supporters of the war, as proven by the information published on the Internet”, argued the letter sent to Emmanuel Macron, the Minister of National Education and Sports, Amélie Oudéa -Castéra, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, and the head of the Olympic Organizing Committee, Tony Estanguet.

The document implicates Vladislav Larin, 28, gold medalist in taekwondo at the Tokyo Games three years ago and who obtained his ticket to Paris on December 16, for the Grand Slam in Wuxi, China .

These Russian athletes are not the only ones whose facade neutrality can pose a problem. Other athletes close to obtaining the Olympic label display an ambiguous stance regarding the war in Ukraine, whether by “liking” pro-war publications, or because they are licensed in clubs affiliated with the Russian army. And not the least: taekwondoists Maksim Khramtsov (gold in Tokyo), Polina Khan (winner of Frenchwoman Althéa Laurin in the final of the 2021 World Championships), Kristina Adebaio (2021 world vice-champion), Georgii Gurtsiev and Tatiana Minina are included. (in silver in Tokyo), the judokas Madina Taimazova (tanned in Tokyo), Inal Tasoev (2023 world champion despite his defeat against Teddy Riner) and Arman Adamian (2023 world champion), as well as the double Olympic champion wrestler Abdulrashid Sadulaev , nicknamed “the Russian tank”.

After months of banishment and procrastination following the invasion of Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) authorized the return of Russians and Belarusians to international competitions in December. The Lausanne-based body required qualified candidates not to “actively support” the war, and not to be under contract “neither with the army nor with national security agencies”. And that’s all. Which is little…