A “war” within a war: how the Olympic Committee is trying to get athletes to participate in the Games

It’s not exactly a very audible thing, but it has become so in the last week. a war” that it is anything but deaf, and that it promises to generate more and more noise over time. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) led by Thomas Bach considers that Russian and Belarusian athletes should participate in the 2024 Paris Games. On the one hand, there are those who argue that it is a measure that makes sense, separating what athletes from these who are Countries are countries and what their countries are, do and defend (in this case looking at it from a more political angle). On the other hand, there are also those who consider this position to be counterintuitive, considering the war in Ukraine and the sanctions for this invasion that will take place within a year. Between one vision and another, there is already a plan for the idea to move forward, which is a “logistical” issue.

Although there are more and more packages of economic sanctions against the two countries, which continue to increase by the European Union, the US and the United Kingdom, some of the “punishments” applied by the world of sport may be lifted in the short term. . In the case of soccer, for example, there are still no indications that anything could change, but the Olympic Committee has been giving hints for a change of gear. “No athlete should be prevented from competing solely because of his passport” defended the IOC in January, opening the door to a solution where athletes can participate “even under strict conditions”. In other words, and as happened in Tokyo, being considered neutral athletes, without a flag or anthem, it remains to be seen how their team will be identified after the ROC (Russian Olympic Committee) in Tokyo.

However, there is another problem: if they are prevented from competing in many of the qualifying events and if they can never arrive by invitation, How do you get to Paris-2024? As El Mundo explains, the solution may lie in a small large geographic deviation of countries to be done in this way.

Since in many modalities the Olympic classification has already begun and since it is utopian to think that all the International Federations of the most diverse sports can reach an agreement in time so that everything is carried out within the legal and normal deadlines, the idea of the IOC will be put Russia and Belarus in the Asian qualifier, something that will already have the green light from the leader of the Asian Olympic Committee, the Indian Randhir Singh. Thus, the criticism and shocks of the majority of European countries would be less and the athletes of both countries could make their qualifying trip to guarantee minimums even without dates.

Initially, there was still the hypothesis of a request to condemn the war in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s own actions so that there would be a reintegration, but everything indicates that this need would eventually fall, especially since the Russian Olympic Committee itself had denied. before any “political imposition” of this plan. “The only condition is that They have not shown active support for the war in Ukraine.” writes the IOC in a statement, without explaining whether, for example, the athletes who participated in the parade at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow together with the Russian president are out or can participate.

For now, and given this scenario, the Scandinavian Committees have announced that they are against it because “nothing has changed regarding Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine”, while, like Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland, Poland and the countries of the Baltic region (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) not only rejected the idea but began to raise the threat of a boycott. Australia, Great Britain and Japan have already come out against the proposal, and the Ukrainian Olympic Committee has no doubts: if Russian and Belarusian athletes go to Paris, the Ukrainians can boycott the competition. “As long as Russia continues the war in Ukraine, I wish there was no delegation to the 2024 Paris Games. It seemed indecent to me that a country paraded like it was nothing, come to Paris while the bombs continue to fall on Ukraine,” said the mayor, Anne Hidalgo.

Other countries, led by the US, accept this model of integration as long as it is under a neutral flag and without any display of the symbols of those countries. “It has to be absolutely clear that they do not represent Russia and Belarus, it has to be neutral in a neutral way without flags, emblems or anthems,” explained Karine Jean-Pierre, a White House spokeswoman. Portugal, through the president of its Olympic Committee, José Manuel Constantino, also considers that “the position of the IOC is most reasonable.” “The terms, conditions and modalities to do so is an issue that has to be discussed, evaluated and considered. Sport must send a message so that the parties understand each other, not support one party against the other, ”he added.

However, and when the discussion should now focus on this issue, a parallel exchange of words ended up taking center stage. “The participation of neutral athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports in the Paris Games has not yet been discussed in concrete terms. Therefore, Ukraine’s letter to its colleagues in the National Olympic Committees, International Federations, IOC members and future Olympic hosts, putting pressure on them in an attempt to publicly influence their decision-making on the matter, was perceived by the vast majority of they as, to say the least, extremely unfortunate”, defended Thomas Bach, before being harshly criticized for this position. The International Olympic Committee You are on the wrong side of history.” defended the Athletes for Ukraine association. “It’s a slanderous position,” said Vadym Guttsait, the sports minister who is also the chairman of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee.