The Russian national skiing team has not been seen at the World Cup since last February. The international skiing federation Fis has not yet made a decision regarding Russia for next season. PDO
The exclusion of Russian athletes from international sports is taken for granted in Finland, but the same view is not shared everywhere.
The exclusion of Russia has raised questions about equality. When one state’s military actions are sufficient for blocking measures, in another case they may not be. Just how “nearby” the horrors take place affects people’s perspective and decisions.
– Legally, there can be many people who think this is right, that only Russians are closed. It can be similar in many other countries, but on a smaller scale, says Olli Rauste, an expert in sports law.
“This is politics”
Rauste refers to warfare in general.
– This is where real political arguments come to the fore. Legally, it’s an awfully good question whether this is fair.
An expert in sports law examines the matter primarily through his own area of expertise. From a legal point of view, the International Olympic Committee’s recommendation to exclude the athletes of one country from all activities is a decision on the basis of which several difficult questions can be asked.
Rauste says he understands the objections of the athletes and federations pushed out of the competitions about unfair treatment.
– In my eyes, this is more politics than jurisprudence. It’s such a big deal. Someone has aptly said that when it’s a little smaller matter, it can be solved with jurisprudence, but when it’s a really important matter, jurisprudence is pushed aside and it’s solved by political principles.
What about the others?
Olli Rauste believes that the treatment received by Russian sports will remain an exception. Santtu Silvennoinen
In the future, the Russian example may come to the fore in sports cabinets, because the world is at war in places other than Ukraine.
The international court of appeals for sports, Cas, seemed cautious after giving its decision in July in favor of the IOC’s position on the appeal of the Russian Football Federation and the country’s top clubs, which concerned the ban imposed by Uefa and Fifa.
Cas described the events in Ukraine as an “escalated conflict”. of the New York Times Tariq Panja suspected that the choice of words was chosen on the basis that the war could not be used as an argument in a similar situation in the future.
Chairman of the IOC Athletes’ Commission Emma Terho told In an interview with Yle, that within the IOC there has been a discussion containing different positions regarding the recommendation regarding Russian athletes. Some support their return to the racing fields.
– Questions come, for example, from countries that feel that they too have been bombed and that they too have been the target of military actions. That why those who attacked them were allowed or allowed to compete, Terho reports.
Same rules?
Rauste says that the countries that fell victim to the war can try to get their attackers punished, but the end result would probably be disappointing.
– But would it go through in the sports federations or the IOC board if it is not such a big conflict? It wouldn’t necessarily work if it’s not as big a conflict as in the case of Ukraine, but in principle it should be, because the same rules should apply to everyone.
Rauste is doubtful about the extent to which solidarity can be found in the international sports community for the victims of wars in other corners of the world. He reminds us that the world of sports revolves at the pace of Western countries.
– In sports, Europe is practically a central continent, because almost all sports federations are located here and the IOC headquarters are in Switzerland.
Reasons follow the decision
The exclusion of Russian athletes from competitions is based on the rules of the federation or the sport. According to Rauste, ambiguous universal human rights principles have qualified as such in this case.
First, there has been a state of will to get a decision and then a process has been started to implement it. Rauste says that there is no other way, because the rules do not mention the effect of military actions of states on the right to compete.
– A bit the same as in this Finnish visa issue, whether there is any basis in Finnish law or EU legislation that can be used to categorically deny visas to Russians. That basis has now been sought in Finland with cats and dogs when they want to be banned.
In its February announcement, the IOC justified the ban on Russia by “protecting the integrity of the competition and the safety of the athletes”. In its charter, the umbrella organization names the goals of its activities as, among other things, emphasizing the status of sport in the service of peace and humanity and combating the political or commercial exploitation of sport.
Despite his consideration of the legal side, Rauste is of the opinion that putting pressure on Russia through sports is currently the right tool.
Rauste reminds us of the important position of sports in Russian society and also as a stick horse of the state leadership.
– In that sense, I also think that this is the only way to act, Rauste states.