The Russian invasion of Ukraine is tearing apart the Olympic Movement. After its isolation from world sport, Russia has plans to organize separate BRICS Games with politically friendly nations such as China, India and South Africa. IOC president Thomas Bach already sharply warned himself: “This would be the Games of political bloc A against political bloc B.”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has yet to officially decide whether Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete in the Paris Games next summer. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, athletes from both countries have been banned from competition as part of the sanctions in many international sports federations. And the Parliamentary Forum of the Council of Europe this week recommended banning (Belarus) Russian athletes from Paris 2024 “as long as the war continues.”
Neutral flag not so neutral after all?
The IOC is keeping the door ajar for (Belarus) participation in Paris 2024. They recommend that their athletes can participate under a neutral flag, provided they are not members of the army or support President Vladimir Putin’s war . The Kremlin has repeatedly denounced the politicization of sports and finds the ban on the flag, symbols and Russian national anthem unacceptable.
Some sports federations already allow (Belarus) Russian athletes to participate under a neutral flag, such as tennis. Although that comes with upheavals. And at the Taekwondo World Cup earlier this month, it became clear how relative the ‘neutral’ flag’ is. Ukraine exposed eight allegedly “neutral” Russian participants and a coach who have “liked” pro-Russian war posts on social media in the past.
Ukraine would rather not allow its athletes to participate in competitions that allow Russians. Should that be the case in Paris 2024, Ukraine will boycott those Games. A deep crack threatens. Russia is also not giving up on the imminent exclusion. The Russian Ministry of Sports revealed this week via news agency TASS the plans to organize separate ‘BRICS’ Games one month before the Games in Paris.
Play with friendly countries
BRICS stands for a political alliance of five superpowers Russia, Brazil, India, China and South Africa that share the same economic development. The regimes of those countries are politically ‘friendly’ with each other. Not coincidentally, China, India and South Africa abstained from the United Nations-voted and widely supported resolution that Russia should withdraw from Ukraine.
Russia has already designated Kazan as the host for the BRICS Games, which will consist of 22 sports. “BRICS will help solve global problems, including in sports,” said Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin. He does not think the BRICS Games are an “alternative” competition, although in practice it does of course come down to that and wants to put Russia under pressure on the International Olympic Committee.
The Russian sports minister sees the BRICS Games as “helping solve global problems, including in sports.” © Photo News
At an extraordinary IOC meeting this week, Thomas Bach reacted strongly against Russia’s rebellious plans: “The Russian government accuses us of acting contrary to our political neutrality. But at the same time, the same government shamelessly tries to put together completely politicized sports competitions.”
Sports armament
Bach thus fears a complete politicization of the Games in the future: “The Games of political block A against the Games of political block B. In such a politicized sport, universal Olympic Games and world championships in the true sense of the word are no longer possible. are. This politicization would be the weaponization of sport and goes against everything that sport and we in the Olympic Movement stand for.”
Not for the first time, the Olympic Movement is facing a schism. In 1980, America and other Western states decided to boycott the Olympic Games in Moscow because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Four years later, the Soviet Union in turn boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Games in the midst of the Cold War and, with allies, organized the Friendship Games for their best athletes. And in 1986 CNN founder Ted Turner started the Goodwill Games as a rival to the IOC, but after a few editions they died a quiet death due to a lack of interest.
Pro-Ukrainian demonstrators protested in front of the IOC headquarters in March: they do not want Russian athletes to participate in the Paris Games under a ‘neutral flag’. ©AFP
Keep unity
Bach hopes to maintain unity within the Olympic Movement. For example, he had previously criticized Ukraine’s decision to ban its own athletes from competitions in which (Belarus) Russians participate: “It is difficult to understand why the Ukrainian government is denying its athletes the chance to qualify for the Games in Paris 2024 and to make the Ukrainian people proud. It is difficult to understand why Ukrainian athletes are allowed to play tennis, but not table tennis.”
Although the IOC itself has contributed to this arbitrariness. At a conference in March this year, they pushed the hot potato over Russia without a clear position and put the ball in the camp of the international sports federations to regulate their own position on (Belarus) athletes.
Bach hopes that Ukraine will drop a possible boycott towards Paris 2024: “Imagine what it would mean if hundreds of thousands of spectators live along the River Seine cheered the Ukrainian team, while billions of people around the world watched. What a moment of pride and joy and hope that would be for the Ukrainian people.”
Thomas Bach. © ANP / EPA
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2023-06-23 16:28:23
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