The International Olympic Committee (IOC) maintains sanctions against Russia and Belarus as a result of the war of aggression against Ukraine. However, it is looking for a uniform international solution for the participation of athletes from the two countries, as the German IOC President Thomas Bach confirmed on Wednesday (December 7th, 2022).
“It should come as no surprise that the sanctions against the countries of Russia and Belarus and their governments were not questioned in any way,” said IOC President Thomas Bach after a meeting of the Executive Committee in Lausanne. The sanctions were imposed for the war’s violation of the Olympic charter.
Possible return of athletes from Russia and Belarus
At the same time, Bach promoted an open discussion about the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to world sport. “They cannot be punished for the actions of their governments. We are investigating ways to enable their participation,” Bach said.
“I never tire of explaining that athlete participation is very different from the sanctions imposed on their governments,” Bach said. “The position of the Olympic movement has been, and is, athletes must not be punished for the actions of their governments.”
Some governments have threatened their athletes with cutting financial support if they compete against athletes from the two countries. “All of this put us in a big dilemma, because starting in competitions was no longer based on athletic ability, but on political decisions,” said Bach.
Bach: “IOC had to violate its own values”
Bach again underlined the strict line of the IOC that sport should be separated from political circumstances. In a minute-long digression, among other things, to the UN General Assembly in September or the G20 summit in November, at which several statesmen appealed to the independence of sport from politics.
“We had to go against our own values,” Bach commented. “We should never ban athletes from competitions because of their passport. Their participation should be based on sporting merit, not political interference.”
The Olympic movement must develop “a unifying force and not a divisive force,” Bach repeated the well-known guideline with which the IOC recently brushed aside concerns about Olympic hosts with problematic human rights situations, such as China or Russia.
With a similar argument, Bach would now like to pave the way for the return of the recently banned athletes from Russia and Belarus. “We need ways to solve the dilemma,” he emphasized.
A way out should be sought in dialogue with the athletes’ representatives, the world associations and the national Olympic committees. This topic will be up for debate at the digital Olympic summit on Friday. The Russian NOK President Stanislav Podsniakow is also invited there.