The IOC is internationally criticized for the possible re-admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes. While Russia is demanding approval, Wladimir Klitschko disagrees. There are also voices from Germany.
Wladimir Klitschko – former boxing world champion and Olympic champion from 1996 – commented in a video message on the plans of the International Olympic Committee and its President Thomas Bach to enable Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to world sport as “neutral athletes”.
Appeal to Bach
Filmed in front of a destroyed house, the Ukrainian said: “Today, Russians are Olympic champions in crimes against civilians. They win the gold medal in kidnapping children and raping women.” Bach should not be associated with these crimes “olympic badge” provided, otherwise he would “Accomplices of this hideous war” do and “the Olympic spirit” betray, said Klitschko: “A country that tramples on the basic principles of international law” cannot be “legitimized and supported” by the IOC.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February 2022, the IOC recommended that the international world associations exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes. Now the reintegration is to take place – as “neutral athletes” who, after a test, will end Russia’s war against Ukraine “do not actively support” allowed to.
Russia demands lifting of all sanctions – IOC rejects
The Russian National Olympic Committee (ROC), on the other hand, called for the lifting of all sanctions on its athletes in view of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. “Russians must compete on exactly the same terms as all other athletes”, Chairman Stanislav Pozdnyakov said, according to national news agencies. All additional terms are “undesirable, especially those with political undertones totally unacceptable to the Olympic movement”.
The IOC issued a rejection in the evening: “The sanctions against the Russian and Belarusian states and governments are non-negotiable”. Furthermore, no international sporting events should take place in the two countries, no national symbols should be shown at competitions and no representatives of the two governments and states should be invited.
Bach: “You can’t exclude anyone because of their passport”
However, the plan for the reintegration of the athletes remains. Bach argues with the human rights requirements of the Olympic Charter as well as the United Nations. athletes “excluded because of their passport”, violate it. The UN Human Rights Council also referred to this. Neutral athletes from Russia and Belarus are expected to be allowed to take part in the Asian Games next fall, which are considered qualifiers for Paris 2024.
–IOC President Thomas Bach
Russia’s President has repeatedly used sport as a propaganda tool. In 2014, the Winter Olympics took place in Sochi, and in 2018 the men’s soccer World Cup was held in Russia, despite the illegal annexation of Crimea. Because of the doping scandal, Russia had to send “neutral athletes” to the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. Some of them later showed themselves to be less than neutral with their medals at a Putin propaganda event in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, some with the war symbol “Z” on their jackets.
Several foreign ministers are opposed to the IOC
The foreign ministers from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland spoke out against re-admission. “We all agree that such a move should not be supported and is unacceptable as long as Russia, backed by Belarus, continues its unprovoked direct aggression against Ukraine.”said Latvian host Edgars Rinkevics on Tuesday after meeting his colleagues Urmas Reinsalu (Estonia), Gabrielius Landsbergis (Lithuania) and Zbigniew Rau (Poland) in Riga.
Federal Minister of the Interior and Minister of Sport Nancy Faeser had previously chosen similar words. “The fact that the IOC is apparently opening the door again to Russian athletes and wants to enable them to take part in the Olympic Games is completely the wrong way.”, she told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The independent athletes’ representation, Athleten Deutschland, also gave the plan a clear rejection.
The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) and the German Handball Federation (DHB) see things differently. The DOSB said that the path of the IOC was carried out under “strict conditions”. DHB President Andreas Michelmann expressed understanding for the IOC. “If I’m serious about the fact that it’s about the athletes, I have to separate the athletes from the states.”said Michelmann on Deutschlandfunk.
Zelenskyj: “Neutrality does not exist”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed disappointment with the IOC’s actions. “I invite Mr. Bach to Bachmut, there he can see with his own eyes that neutrality does not exist”the Ukrainian President announced in a video post on Twitter: “It is obvious that every neutral banner of Russian athletes is stained with blood.” In the event of an emergency, a boycott of the Olympic Games by Ukraine is now in the pipeline, which the sports minister expressly did not rule out.