The International Olympic Committee is considering accepting athletes from Russia and Belarus back into competitions.
Aleksandr Bolshunov is one of Russia’s biggest sports stars. PASI LEISMA
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is investigating ways to get Russian and Belarusian athletes back to international sports competitions.
President of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee Susanne Lyons told about it last week.
– We know that the IOC has started to think about whether there is a way back for Russian athletes. They plan to contact all shareholders to ask for their opinion on the subject, Lyons said According to Reuters.
According to Susanne Lyons, punishing athletes indefinitely is not reasonable. EPA/AOP
In February, the IOC recommended that all sports federations exclude Russians and Belarusians from their competitions because of the war that started in Ukraine.
According to Lyons, what needs to be considered now is how much the athletes suffer from the concussion.
– I think everyone thinks that at some point athletes should not be victims of their country’s politics or other global tensions.
– I believe that it is inevitable that athletes who happen to live in Russia are wanted to participate in competitions. It has yet to be decided what the schedule will be and how this will be implemented.
The USOPC has underlined that it does not have problems with Russian athletes, but with representatives of their state and sports system.
The MP knocks out
According to Jan Vapaavuori, the Finnish Olympic Committee is currently not in favor of easing the sanctions. Henri Kärkkäinen
The question of the status of Russian and Belarusian athletes is also on the agenda of the Finnish Olympic Committee.
– We will discuss the issue on Tuesday evening in the Finnish Olympic Committee board. However, the starting point is clear: In the current circumstances, we do not support easing the sanctions, chairman Jan Vapaavuori messaged Iltalehti on Monday.
Also former Minister of Science and Culture, current Member of Parliament for the Center Hanna Kosonen was dismayed by the IOC’s efforts.
He took a stand on the matter on his Twitter account.
– The International Olympic Committee is thinking about whether Russian athletes will be included in the Games. Just found out that 0.6-1.5 million Ukrainians have been forcibly transferred to Russia, including more than 200,000 children. We estimate the number of tortured and killed civilians to be in the hundreds of thousands. Really COPD?
If you don’t see the tweet, you can take a look its here.
The situation of the Russians is uncertain.
NHL assistant commissioner Bill Daly announced last week that the league’s goal is to get the World Cup on the puck calendar in 2024. Daly said he would like to see a Russian team in the tournament, but acknowledged the complexity of the issue.
The International Ice Hockey Federation has announced that Russia and Belarus are not welcome to the matches under it.
Hanna Kosonen previously served as Minister of Science and Culture. PASI LEISMA