“Sport is a way for me to bring people together. Remember the Olympic Games, Baron De Coubertin. When he revived the Olympics in 1896, he did it to unite people. Olympic values are friendship, respect … I’m 100 percent sure “That none of the athletes supports the war. This is a very sad day for me,” Fasel, 72, told the Russian website championat.ru.
He considers the federation’s decision to be a sad moment in its history. “Even during the Cold War, the Soviet Union played with the United States, with Canada. Even in such a tense situation as today, sport must carry the message of peace and people’s union. There have been many opportunities to exclude someone from the IIHF because there have been many wars “We are doing it now. I hope people will find common ground and eventually a solution. War is not a solution, but we should not use sport as a sanction. That is not its purpose,” Fasel added. He did not comment directly on what was happening in Ukraine, but only said that the situation was “very dramatic”.
Fasel’s successor, Luc Tardif, justified the federation’s move to exclude Russia and Belarus from all events by trying to ensure that the tournaments were held in a safe environment for all teams. He added that he was shocked by the footage of what was happening in Ukraine.
During his tenure at the head of the IIHF, Fasel faced a wave of negative reactions last year after he warmly hugged and held hands during a meeting with Lukashenko in Minsk regarding the organization of the championship. At the time, the Belarusian president violently suppressed mass actions of the population, who protested against his re-election in elections that the opposition of Lukashenko’s autocratic regime called rigged. The IIHF waited a long time for the decision, but in the end, after pressure from sponsors, including Škoda Auto, it took over the co-organization of the championship from Belarus and the entire World Cup took place exclusively in Latvia.
Russia will not even start in the final tournaments of the Euro Hockey Tour (EHT) series – the Czech Games and the Swedish Games. The management of the Czech Ice Hockey Association decided on Monday that it would not be invited to the Czech Games, which approved that no national teams would play against the selections of Russia and Belarus. The Swedes then informed that in the afternoon they agreed with the representatives of the Czech Republic and Finland that Russia would not be invited to the next two EHT tournaments.
