In the colorful pictures from India, Thomas Bach looks pretty relaxed. The IOC president plays cricket with children, leaves colorful handprints on an advertising wall and enjoys a football evening in the Mumbai stadium in a wicker chair.
Before the general meeting of his International Olympic Committee in the Indian metropolis that began on Sunday, Bach took a short break from sensitive topics such as the Russia question, which is unlikely to be resolved at the 141st IOC session.
“At the right time,” it is always said, the rings circle will decide on the issue that has divided world sport for months. Are athletes from Russia and its supporter Belarus allowed to take part in the Summer Games in Paris despite the war of aggression in Ukraine or not?
Bach recently told a forum of international athletes that he hopes that athletes “from all over the world” can take part in the Olympics next year.
Officially, however, the matter does not appear on the agenda for the three-day session in Mumbai. There is definitely a need for discussion after an affront from Vladimir Putin’s empire.
Affront from Russia
Russia’s Olympic Committee recently admitted the four annexed Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk as members. Ukraine sees this as a violation of the Olympic Charter, and Bach announced an investigation into the matter, according to the industry service “insidethegames”.
The Rings organization also received a million-dollar demand from Russia. Because of the war, the IOC has initially withheld the Russians’ share of Olympic marketing revenue. The ROC now wants to force the payment with the help of the authorities in Switzerland, where the IOC is based. ROC General Director Vladimir Sengleev calculated that it was about eight million euros.
But this dispute is unlikely to change the course of the IOC. The umbrella organization was able to see the fact that the International Paralympic Committee recently lifted the complete ban against Russia and allowed a start under a neutral flag and without an anthem as a further boost for its policy.
“We are encouraged by the many international federations that have already organized international competitions and even world championships based on our recommendations,” said the umbrella organization.
Individual athletes who pursue their sport on the biggest stages as neutral athletes with no visible connection to Russia or Belarus and no connection to the military – that is the idea of Bach’s IOC.
The decision should not be “politicized,” warned French President Emmanuel Macron, in keeping with the spirit of the IOC. “Of course there can be no Russian flag at the Paris Games, I think there is a consensus on that. Russia is not welcome as a country at a time when it has committed war crimes and abducted children,” Macron told the newspaper L’Equipe “.
IOC is playing for time
The Russia issue is particularly controversial in Europe. The European Football Union UEFA recently learned this when it re-admitted Russian junior teams. Because a dozen associations refused to compete against Russia’s youngsters, the Russian U17 cannot take part in the European Championship qualifiers that are already underway.
But in the wide Olympic world this rejection cannot be accepted by a majority. The German Olympic Sports Confederation had to acknowledge that, with its stance against a start permit for Russians and Belarusians, “as one of 206 National Olympic Committees worldwide, it belongs to a minority in international sport,” said DOSB President Thomas Weikert at “tagesschau.de”.
A number of international federations, including Olympic centerpieces such as swimming and gymnastics, have already reopened their doors, allowing Russians and Belarusians to also meet the Paris qualification criteria.
The group of world athletics associations that continue to ban athletes from both countries has shrunk steadily in recent months. However, on the big question of approval for Paris 2024, the IOC continues to play for time.