(Paris) A hundred athletes, including the triple French Olympic champion Tony Estanguet or the British champions Paula Radcliffe and Christopher Froome, signed a platform in favor of peace, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Posted yesterday at 12:55 p.m.
Under the aegis of the “Peace and Sport” association placed under the high patronage of Albert II of Monaco, these Olympic and world champions believe that “there is a world community of peace through sport which shares the same values and who believes in the effectiveness of “soft diplomacy”. And which exerts a growing influence on the life of societies. »
“This global community of peace through sport can and must play a useful role in the current crisis, by taking concrete initiatives. Without waiting. And relying in particular on the champions, exceptional opinion prescribers, ”they write in this forum broadcast by the association.
And to recall: “barely a few days ago, which today seem so far away, a small gesture of sporting fraternity marked the medal ceremony for the freestyle ski jumping event at the Beijing Olympics: the ‘Ukrainian Oleksandr Abramenko, after winning his country’s first medal, gave a long hug to his competitor, Ilya Burov, representative of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team.
“Sport Mobilization”
Among the signatories are also the Ivorian footballer Didier Drogba, the French basketball player Emilie Gomis, the Australian Jessica Fox quadruple Olympic medalist in canoeing and kayaking, or the former French athlete Stéphane Diagana.
The IOC decided on February 28 to ban Russian athletes from world sport, turning its back on the neutrality it usually observes. Most international federations have followed suit, including FIFA by excluding the Russian team from the next World Cup.
Asked Friday about the position of the international federations, the president of the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) Brigitte Henriques replied: “You know that there are currently a lot of discussions with the international federations. “There is a very important lobbying for everyone to align with this position” [du CIO d’exclure les Russes des compétitions]did she say.
“We tend to say that sport is apolitical, but this is not politics, it’s linked to a war, to human lives, so we changed the register, she said. This is the first time that there has been such a mobilization of sport within the framework of diplomacy. »
