Lausanne (AP) – IOC President Thomas Bach sees the danger for the Olympic summer sports associations of “becoming a political tool” in the ongoing Ukraine war.
The official said at an event of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF), according to the industry service “Inside the Games” in Lausanne, Switzerland, that the associations should not be influenced by politics or otherwise risk being instrumentalized.
“We need the governments’ respect for our role,” said Bach, referring to the current events in the tennis world: “Look at our tennis friends, in Paris Russian players can play as neutral athletes, in London, in… Wimbledon, the government says no, and if we let that happen, if we give in, then we’re doomed.”
Bach, 68, showed no understanding that governments use their own political interests to decide who can and cannot enter a competition, citing the difference between the French Open and Wimbledon as an example. “If you open this gate, today it’s Russia and Belarus, tomorrow it’s your country, there is no country in the world that is loved by any other government,” Bach said to the audience. This is “against all the principles we stand for,” said the German.
Anyone who supports the war “can and should be sanctioned,” Bach made clear: “But anyone who does not support the war must have their rights respected. (…) There should be no sanctions for the give possession of a passport.”