A group consisting of sports ministers representing 36 countries is questioning the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) proposed plan to have Russian and Belarusian athletes compete as neutrals.
The statement was the fourth issued by the same group of sports ministers, who weren’t satisfied with the details of the IOC’s approach to reintegrating Russian and Belarusian athletes into international competition.
“We maintain that the Russian state, which has broken the Olympic Truce twice, must not be allowed to use sport to legitimize its barbaric and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, nor should the Belarusian state be able to use sport to legitimize its complicity in Russia’s war of aggression,” the statement reads.
On March 28, the IOC issued a set of recommendations for international federations to reintroduce Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals.
The group of 36 sports ministers said that while this addressed some of their primary concerns noted in their statement in February, there were still several issues still to be confronted, including military connection and state funding.
“On the IOC recommendations, we are clear that while some aspects of the strong concerns we raised in our collective statement of 21 February 2023 have been addressed by the IOC, there are substantial issues remaining, not least around military connections of athletes, state funding, the definition of what constitutes teams, and on enforcement mechanisms.”
British minister Lucy Frazer recently said that Russian athletes receiving funding from the state, or from state-controlled companies, were “de facto representatives of those states”.
“They are only there by virtue of being funded by, trained by, selected by, supported by, the Russian state,” she said, according to The Independent.
“We have seen the IOC start to address some of our concerns and that is to be welcomed, but the IOC’s recommendations do not go far enough for us and they leave far too many unanswered questions.
“There is no reference anywhere in the recommendations to state funding, which I have said is a breach of neutrality.
“None of us should countenance the idea of a Ukrainian athlete being forced to share a pitch, a court, a field, a starting line with state-sponsored athletes from Russia and Belarus.
The full list of signatories is as follows:
- Albania: Evis Kushi, Minister of Education
- Australia: The Hon Anika Wells MP, Minister for Sport
- Austria: Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler, Minister of Arts and Culture, Civil Service and Sport
- Belgium: Ben Weyts, Vice Minister-President for Education, Sport, the Flemish Periphery, and Animal Welfare of the Flemish Government. This signature commits the Flemish Community, the French-speaking Community and the German-speaking Community of Belgium.
- Bulgaria: Vessela Letcheva, Minister of Youth and Sports
- Canada: The Honourable Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Sport
- Croatia: Dr. Nikolina Brnjac, Minister of Tourism and Sport
- Cyprus: Dr Athena Michaelidou, Minister of Education, Sport and Youth
- Czech Republic: Jaroslav Miller, Deputy Minister for Education, Youth and Sports; Ondřej Šebek, President of the National Sports Agency
- Denmark: Jakob Engel-Schmidt, Minister of Culture
- Estonia: Heidy Purga, Minister of Culture
- Finland: Petri Honkonen, Minister of Science and Culture
- France: Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games
- Germany: Mahmut Özdemir MP, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community
- Greece: Lefteris Avgenakis, Deputy Minister of Culture and Sport
- Iceland: Ásmundur Einar Daðason, Minister of Education and Children
- Ireland: Thomas Byrne, Minister of State for Sport and Physical Education
- Italy: Andrea Abodi, Minister for Sport and Youth
- Japan: H.E. NAGAOKA Keiko, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
- Republic of Korea: H.E. PARK Bo Gyoon, Minister of Culture, Sports & Tourism
- Latvia: Anda Čakša, Minister of Education and Science
- Liechtenstein: Dominique Hasler, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Education and Sport
- Lithuania: Dr. Jurgita Šiugždinienė, Minister of Education, Science and Sport
- Luxembourg: Georges Engel, Minister of Sport
- Netherlands: Conny Helder, Minister for Long-term Care and Sport
- New Zealand: Hon Grant Robertson, Minister for Sport and Recreation
- Norway: Anette Trettebergstuen, Minister of Culture and Equality
- Poland: Kamil Bortniczuk, Minister of Sport and Tourism
- Portugal: João Paulo Correia, Secretary of State for Youth and Sport
- Slovakia: Ján Horecký, Minister of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic
- Slovenia: Matjaž Han, Minister of the Economy, Tourism and Sport
- Spain: Miquel Octavi Iceta i Llorens, Minister of Culture and Sport
- Sweden: Jakob Forssmed, Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health
- Ukraine: Vadym Guttsait, Minister for Youth and Sports of Ukraine
- United Kingdom: The Rt Hon Lucy Frazer KC MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
- United States of America: Lee Satterfield, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs
BACH “UNDERTAKING ALL EFFORTS” ON RUSSIAN RETURN
IOC President Thomas Bach recently told Chinese state news agency Xinhua that the organization was pushing forward on getting Russian and Belarusian athletes back into competition.
“Now we are undertaking all the efforts to accomplish the mission, offer of the Olympic Movement by having athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports back into the international competitions,” Bach said.
“We are in a very close cooperation and exchange with the International Federations who at this moment are responsible for running their competitions, and we hope very much that this mission then can be accomplished under the conditions which have been established that the athletes from these two countries must take part in a neutral status, so that we can really unify the whole world with the few to the Olympic Games in Paris,” he added.
Bach also continued to reaffirm his opposition to governments interfering in sport. Ukraine has previously threatened to boycott the Games if Russians are permitted to participate.
“You know the statements of governments who want to decide the people who can participate in the Olympics, the international sports competition, and who not,” he commented. “We have to be very firm that these decisions have to be taken by the responsible sports organizations.”
“I see that the governments, it’s their right to express their position,” Bach said. “But that they also realize that any kind of boycott would only punish their own athletes and would deprive their people to be proud of their athletes of their Olympic performances.”
A russian swimmer just set the world record for the women’s 200 breast, are we really not going to let her compete because of something out of her control?
Not at the Olympics. The Olympics are about National pride. No Russian swimmer, whether supporting the war or not, should be represented by their terrorist state. So many war crimes have been blatantly committed, its disgusting.
I am Ukrainian. If Russia competes there is blood in the pool.
I support Ukraine 100%
Despite the position he has stated (which is pro including Russia and Belarus) Thomas Bach must really be bracing for a high level of activism and outrage which could threaten the logistics and organisation of the Olympics. I hope activists come out strong but peacefully to fight against Russia’s inclusion in particular. The Olympic movement does not gain anything by having Russian involvement at this time. Let them be a pariah.
I am interested to see What World Aquatics does after Fukuoka. The President – Captain Corruption – has shown he has few morals and was recently engaging with Asian Youth Sporting organizations to help them conclude that Russia and Belarus should be invited back to world sport. I… Read more »
Você é atleta treina todos os dias e pratocinado pelo empresa estatal , inclusive no Brasil são os maiores patrocinadores do esporte aí vc pô ser patrocinado vc é culpado e tirado do direito de competir, pq seu país decidiu atacar outro país , inclusive EUA atacou o Iraque , e seus atletas tava todos na olimpíadas seguinte o mundo ocidental tentando decidir quem vai ou não como eles fossem os donos da vdd , olhem a história vcs invadiram saquearam nações pô seculos e estavam nas olimpíadas, não existe puniçãod, deixe os atletas russo e bielorisso competirem hironia
Just who is in charge here? thirty six countries tell the guy not to do it and he is going to do it anyway.
Around 190 to 200 countries participate in the Olympics.
Would be interesting to know if the other countries refused to sign.
Based on what’s in the article, I’m not clear. What is clear is that they weren’t breaking down the doors to sign. This conflict is complicated, and the narrative of the collective West doesn’t ring true in a lot of countries. Typically, you won’t see African, South American, Middle Eastern, and much of Eurasia going in lock step. Also, in Europe, Hungary & Serbia will challenge the narrative as well.
I don’t even get who this whole song and dance is for. The reputation of the Russian state is so deep in the mud at this point that I don’t even think banning the symbolism of the state yet again even really matters all that much. Either they compete or they don’t, there isn’t a middle.
The contemptable position of Bach/IOC is simply beyond the pale. More than 2500 years ago, the Olympics were a moment of the CESSATION of war for the sake of the Games; here the IOC is galloping along wanting to include athletes from the country that has invaded, burned, and looted Ukraine. I hope the sports ministers hold firm and just say “NO!”
Surely the US athletes didn’t get banned when they invaded Iraq and Afghanistan? Why isn’t Israeli athletes banned when their state is systematically invading and looting Palestine? Yes, we should voice out against Putin’s invasion, but leave the athletes out
While in hindsight, such interventions were questionable, at the time the US State Department went to the U.N. and ‘made the case’ — Russia has done NO such thing. PS: 9/11 was kind of its own justification for war, I think.
‘Made the case’ AKA lied to the UN.
what a horrible comparison.
Afghanistan- do you really want to go there? Now you’re making me mad. Afghanistan sponsored terrorists that killed over three thousand Americans.
We went into Iraq under false pretenses (which I do not in any way condone) but find me one example of our military INTENTIONALLY targeting women and children. Russia has attempted to commit genocide (though they are pathetic and have proven to have a WEAK military). There is no comparison whatsoever to your examples. Not even close.
Mr. Christopher,
You asked for one example of the U.S. military intentionally targeting women and children. I have two examples – the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which removed a combined 199,000 lives from the planet. Most were not in the military, were they? And yes, it was intentional. The U.S. military, as well as the President, knew exactly the type of destruction the bombs would cause. Not just to the cities but to the people who lived there, including women and children. Knowing that, it didn’t deter them, did it? Did the U.S. warn Japan before dropping the bombs, so the innocents could get out of harms way?
As for your genocide comment, you do realize… Read more »
The difference is that those countries aren’t parading their athletes around in front of gigantic rallies as a symbol of the war.
Of course we know that all Olympic athletes are kind of a symbol of patriotism and the regime. But in the US, athletes aren’t forced on stage at pro-war rallies (and there aren’t pro war rallies really) wearing their Olympic symbols (their medals) to associate them with the war.
We can get into the weeds about the difference between this war and other words, but that’s tedious. To me, the easiest delimitation is the difference between how athletes and Olympic symbols are used in Russia in direction connection to their wars.
You compare Saddam’ Iraq with peaceful democratic country like Ukraine? Did US annex part of Iraq’s territory like Russia did with Ukraine’s land?
Imagine how screwed up you have to be when your singleminded “mission” is designed to benefit Russians and Belarusians.