Athlete spokesman Maximilian Klein has heavily criticized the recommendation of the International Olympic Committee to the world federations to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete again under strict neutrality. “It sends a devastating signal,” said the director for sports policy and strategy of the Athletes Germany association to “SID”.
“The neutral status does not protect the individual athletes from being used by third parties for war propaganda,” Klein explained. “We do not pay enough attention to the interests, rights and protection needs of the Ukrainian athletes.”
Instead, the interests of the Russian side would receive much more attention, Klein criticized: “This is also about a break with the values of the Olympic movement. And if an aggressor who attacks a state is allowed to remain part of this movement, even though it is should work for peace, then that is mockery and ridicule for the victims of the war.”
Even the fact that athletes from Russia and Belarus who belong to the military should remain excluded (“minimum solution”) does not convince athletes in Germany: “These are recommendations that can be ignored by the world associations,” said Klein. In this way, “organized irresponsibility arises, as we have already observed in the Russian state doping scandal”.
The recommendations, communicated by the IOC on Tuesday, increased the risk of Ukrainian athletes being boycotted at international events, most notably the Paris 2024 Olympics. “This is how the actual victims are forced to retreat – we’ve already seen that in fencing,” said Klein.
“We are disappointed but not surprised”
Most of the German athletes have recently spoken out against reintegration, he emphasized and spoke of “great solidarity with the Ukrainians”. Saber fencer Lea Krüger, also a representative of Athletes Germany, was critical of the “NDR”: “We are disappointed, but not surprised. Decisions are often simply made over our heads.”
Klein also sees an opportunity in the comparatively soft recommendations of the IOC: “The professional associations can still show their attitude. In athletics, we see that collective exclusion is still possible.”
The IOC had opened the door for Russia and Belarus to return to world sport on Tuesday, when the Executive Committee decided to allow the world federations to participate in the previously banned athletes under certain conditions. IOC requirements include strict neutrality, compliance with the anti-doping code and proof of not actively supporting the war.