Will the Russians be at the 2024 Olympics and how can this be prevented?

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What happened? They want to return Russians and Belarusians to world sports. After a year of war, after thousands of human victims, after cities and villages were wiped off the face of the earth, after crimes in Buch, Kramatorsk, Izyum, Kherson, Dnipro… For IOC president Thomas Bach, all this is not an argument. He believes that the presence of a Russian or Belarusian passport cannot be the basis for a ban. Moreover, he is currently doing everything possible to ensure that athletes from the Russian Federation and Belarus qualify for the Olympics in Paris in 2024. Since European sports organizations are decidedly against it, the aggressor is brought in through the “spare entrance”. A special system of quotas is being developed within the framework of the Asian Olympic space. The IOC has already approved the initiative of the Olympic Committee of Asia to include Russians and Belarusians in the 2023 Asian Games. Although the decisions are made by the federations, the recommendations and clarifications of the IOC have a significant influence. The IOC notes that access should be granted on an individual basis and only to those athletes who did not support the war and did not get involved in doping. But this may be a kind of “Overton window” through which all Russians and Belarusians will be launched little by little. After all, war propaganda and doping are the state policy of Russia in the field of sports. And if someone did not fall for this, then he was just lucky and it is not the result of a conscious position. We do not see a sports movement against doping or against the war on the part of Russian athletes. Therefore, for the time being, the entire sport of the Russian Federation and its representatives should not be allowed to compete, as a tool of the aggressor state, and not only individual “enlightened” athletes. It is possible to discuss certain options for the admission of individuals who were against the war only after the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and the restoration of the destroyed facilities of our sports infrastructure. Now Ukrainians face the prospect of meeting the enemy not only on the battlefield, but also on running tracks, in stadiums, in sports halls and, perhaps, on pedestals of honor. And Thomas Bach insists that Ukrainian athletes shake hands with them, which are in the blood of our compatriots. The fact that these people will march under neutral white flags is little consolation, because we know who they really are. Who is to blame? From the first days of the exclusion of the Russian Federation and Belarus from major sports, their lobbyists actively processed TOP world sports officials. Old connections and, perhaps, considerable money were at work. For some time, the powerful international resonance of the atrocities committed by the Rashists kept the aggressor from sports “rehabilitation”. Apparently, today some believe that this has been forgotten, and Russians will once again be perceived as nice boys and girls. It should be honestly admitted that the fault of the sports leadership of Ukraine can be found in the surrendering position of the IOC. First, from the beginning of the invasion, the behavior of the then leaders of the National Olympic Committee, who were afraid to call the war a war, was strange. Secondly, when recently on the sidelines of major sports there was talk of the return of the Russians, the relevant ministry and NOC obviously did not give adequate public publicity to these threats and were unable to form a strong international pro-Ukrainian sports coalition. For example, the initiative to introduce personal sports sanctions against athletes of Russia and Belarus was taken by journalists, interested athletes and the parliament. A list of sports propagandists of the Russian Federation and Belarus who support the war was formed in the mass media and is constantly updated. In the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Youth and Sports, we developed a mechanism and voted for the first list of those subject to sanctions – 55 people. We are waiting for the decision of the National Security Council, according to which sanctions will begin to apply and to which other states will join. We are preparing a new list of pro-Putin and pro-Lukashenki sports “lackmen”. We are talking about hundreds of people. Instead, at the end of November last year, at the first meeting of the Sanctions Working Group, a representative of the Ministry stated that during the war, the department submitted as many as 4 sports officials of the Russian Federation for the imposition of sanctions. This is despite the availability even then of dozens, or even hundreds, of cases of support for the war by Russian athletes and officials. There is also no mention of effective communication between the NOC and the international community – we are still waiting for the organization’s response to Thomas Bach’s latest initiatives. We hope that soon the Ukrainian sports community will hear a clearly reasoned position and action plan from the National Olympic Committee. How to act? The Ministry of Youth Sports is concentrating on boycotting competitions and the 2024 Olympics, if Russians are allowed there. Right now such statements about self-boycott will do more harm than help. This is not a sign of our strength and, moreover, demotivates Ukrainian athletes who will participate in qualifying competitions. It is necessary to focus on how to prevent Russians and Belarusians from entering the Olympics. A boycott is a backup option. It will have to be used if we do not use more effective means of influence. It is necessary to systematically work in three directions. The first is the formation of the same anti-Russian coalition in the world of sports. Representatives of NOCs and federations of various countries contact me and people connected with Ukrainian sports almost every day. They offer to cooperate in order to put pressure on the IOC. Such support must be used effectively. It is important to have a coordinating center in the form of the Ministry and NOK, which would take matters into their own hands. The second direction is the expansion of the list of sanctioned athletes. A dialogue with our European partners is necessary so that they implement mirror measures. Then the supporters of the war, if they want to take part in the Olympics, will not be physically able to come to France, because visa restrictions will apply. The third direction is to inform the IOC and pro-Russian federations about the specific facts of Russian sportsmen’s cooperation with the regime. If the chess player Karyakin openly talks about supporting the so-called “special operation”, then he should be banned forever. If figure skater Valieva takes part in events under the letter zeta, she has no place in the world sports community. If the driver Severyukhin “zigs” at the award ceremony, it is necessary to make it so that it will be his last performance. We must seek tough measures of influence, having clear and understandable arguments in hand. Sport is incompatible with war. You choose war propaganda, leave sports or compete at the games in Khanty-Mansiysk. It is important that the President and the top leadership of the country intervened in the situation. That is, they have an understanding of the importance of the sports front. I hope we will repel this attack by Russian lobbyists. But we need to strengthen our positions and counterattack. We have the truth, letter and spirit of the Olympic principles and unprecedented support of sports organizations and athletes. No one, except Ukraine, can be the moderator of the process. This is our mission, our war for freedom, our struggle to cleanse world sports of militarism and corruption. I believe that we will defeat the enemy on this front as well, and the 2024 Olympics will give Ukraine new champions and prize-winners. Olha Saladukha, People’s Deputy of Ukraine, head of the subcommittee on high-achieving sports and sports activities of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Youth and Sports, especially for UP. Life. Publications in the “View” section are not editorial articles and reflect exclusively the author’s point of view.

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