“It’s painful, but my opinion is very clear – I’m on the side of Ukraine, it’s not the time to shake hands with Russian athletes, it’s not ethical,” said Gunta Vaičule, chairwoman of the Latvian Olympic Athletes’ Commission Committee (LOK), DW. The 27-year-old athlete is currently preparing for the Olympic Games in Paris. And the discussion about the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to the world’s largest sporting event, recently brought up by IOC boss Thomas Bach, makes Vaičule’s blood run cold.
As a result of the Ukraine war, Russia and Belarus are banned from international competitions. With a few exceptions, such as in tennis, this also applied to starts as neutral athletes. Ukraine has threatened an Olympic boycott, but intends to back down if Russian and Belarusian participants can be prevented from attending the 2024 games in the French capital.
Latvia: Russia must be isolated
Latvian athlete Gunta Vaičule does not want to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian athletes
For sprinter Vaičule, who represented her country at the 2014 Games in Rio de Janeiro, it’s not just about her own attitude. Rather, she sees a much broader political dimension in Bach’s project, to the detriment of her country, which borders directly on Russia and Belarus, but also to the detriment of the entire Baltic region. “After February 24th [2022; Anmerk d. Red.] we Latvians no longer feel safe, we remember what happened to us under the Soviet Union. And I have to do everything in my power to make sure this doesn’t happen again. I can’t stop the war machine, but I have to influence it somehow,” says Vaičule.
In this view she is also supported by the highest Latvian government circles. For example, the plan “to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the next Olympic Games is immoral and wrong,” emphasizes Edgars Rinkēvičs, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia. Should Russia continue its war against Ukraine, it must be isolated. “Like all tyrannies, Russia uses sport for political ends. The IOC should not be complicit in Russian propaganda efforts,” Rinkēvičs said.
In a detailed statement – signed by NOC President Zorzs Tikmers – the Latvian Olympic Committee also left no doubts: “The position of the Latvian NOC was, is and remains unchanged and fundamental – as long as there is a war in Ukraine, Russian participation is more and Belarusian athletes at the Olympics, under any flag, unacceptable.”
Denmark’s Sports Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt shares this view. Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas even threatened that her country would not participate in the 2024 games. “The participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes is simply wrong. So a boycott is the next step.”
The IOC reprimands boycott threats
The IOC said the boycott threats go against the foundations of the Olympic Movement and the principles they stand for. “A boycott is a violation of the Olympic Charter, which obliges all NOCs to participate in the Games of the Olympiad by sending athletes,” it said. The way to the games in Paris could be open to the athletes from Russia and Belarus, even if only under a neutral flag. However, no decision has been made on this yet.
However, the neutral athletes would have to prove that they had “no identification whatsoever with their country and NOCs”, the IOC explained. How the athletes should prove their neutrality is still open, but criteria for this are being worked out. The IOC also referred to the fact that a “large majority of participants” in consultations with associations and athlete representatives spoke out in favor of such a step.
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin (right) and IOC President Thomas Bach (left) at the 2014 Olympic closing ceremony in Sochi
“If we could identify neutral athletes – that could be a solution. If you show me a Russian athlete who has not received any money or support from the Russian government since the beginning of the war and who has condemned their crimes – then we could consider to compete with them,” says Latvia’s athletes spokeswoman Vaičule. “But the truth is that Russia and Belarus are using their athletes to build their propaganda machine that is fueling the war in Ukraine. They are their governments’ weapons.”
Great political resistance
Like the Latvians, sports federations in Northern Europe are unanimous against the possible return of athletes from Russia and Belarus. “The situation with the war in Ukraine has not changed,” wrote the National Olympic Committees, Paralympic Committees and sports federations in the Nordic countries in a joint letter sent to the IOC, among others, last Tuesday. The letter is signed by the heads of associations from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Åland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
And the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has spoken out against the participation of Russian athletes in the French capital in the current situation. She does not want athletes from Russia “as long as there is war” in Ukraine, she said on the franceinfo radio program “8h30”.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo does not want Russian athletes to participate in Paris 2024 during the war
The political resistance is therefore great. And Poland, which has direct borders with Belarus and Ukraine, cannot imagine that the respective athletes will meet in Paris. “We want the Olympics to take place without Russians and Belarusians, but not without Poles, Ukrainians or Latvians,” Kamil Bortniczuk, Poland’s Minister of Sport and Tourism, told RMF FM radio station in view of a possible boycott of the Paris Olympics. “The Russian team has never been neutral and never will be. If the IOC thinks it will be different this time, then they are naïve.”
Russian propaganda machine
For the Russians, sport is part of the propaganda machine. “We point this out in our informal talks,” said Bortniczuk, who apparently can also imagine other, more rigorous options. “I think the ultimatum is the toughest card we have. So we’ll take it if there’s no other option. I think we have enough time left that we should give the IOC a chance for self-reflection.”
A meeting of 40 European sports ministers is to take place in London on Friday, where the IOC’s request will be discussed. “I think we will emphasize very strongly in the statement that we will make after the meeting (on Friday) that participation would be a victory for the Russians,” said Poland’s Sport Minister Bortniczuk. And that should be prevented in any case.