by Francesco Bonfanti
It will not be as good as the words of the UN or the heads of state, but also the very strong stance of the world of sport gives a good idea of how we try to isolate, in every sphere and by every possible means, Russia (but also Belarus, historically in its orbit) from the rest of the world community.
The IOC, the International Olympic Committee, took the most drastic decision. The Executive symbolically withdrew the Olympic order, the highest honor of the five-circle movement, from Russian President Vladimir Putin (the World Judo Federation, of which he is a black belt, has removed the office of honorary president and ambassador of the discipline ), but it was also the athletes who got involved, with the IOC who “strongly recommended all world federations not to invite Russian and Belarusian athletes to international sports competitions”, urging them to “ensure that no Russian athlete or sports official or Belarusian can take part under the name of Russia or Belarus, but only as neutral, without anthems and flags ”. The International Paralympic Committee has aligned itself, excluding athletes from Russia and Belarus from the 2022 Winter Paralympics being held in Beijing.
In the football field, FIFA, which at first only imposed the neutral field for the football matches of the Russian teams and the national team, has changed its mind, establishing that Russia will not play the Qatar 2022 World Cup. so ousted from the playoffs that she should have played at the end of March, first facing Poland in the semifinals and then, in case of victory, the winner of the Czech Republic-Sweden, but all three possible opponents had already said they did not intend to go down in the field. The Champions League final, scheduled in St. Petersburg, was taken from the Russian city and reassigned to Paris. At the same time, the only Russian team still in the running, Spartak Moscow, was ousted from the European Cups, which in the round of 16 of the Europa League would have had to face the Germans of Leipzig, now promoted to the quarter-finals. Not only that, because UEFA has also terminated the contract with the energy giant Gazprom, which gave its name to the stadium in Saint Petersburg (the Gazprom Arena) and guaranteed 45 million euros a year.
On the occasion of the Milan derby of the Coppa Italia, the whole San Siro stadium wanted to send a message of peace, with the Rossonerazzurri fans who, before the match, waved flags all together with the yellow and blue colors of the Ukrainian flag, listening to the video message on the big screen of one of Milan’s most beloved children, Andriy Shevchenko, who wrapped in the flag of his country addressed his message to the Italians, with his face marked by many days of anguish: “Dear Italian friends, from San Siro I ask you to make your support for peace in Ukraine felt. The Ukrainian people want peace, because peace has no borders, because what unites us must be stronger than what divides us. Let’s stop this war together. A hug to everyone ”, amid the applause and tears of the whole stadium.
The world of Formula 1 was among the first to react after the outbreak of the war, deciding to cancel the Sochi Grand Prix scheduled for the weekend of 23-25 September, while the Haas team fired Russian driver Nikita Mazepin and rescinded also the contract with the main sponsor, the chemical company Uralkali, owned by Mazepin’s father himself, an oligarch with very close relations with the Kremlin.
On the day he became number 1 in the world in the ATP tennis ranking by breaking Djokovic’s dominance, the Russian tennis player Medvedev wanted to take a stand on the conflict, with an appeal for peace addressed by his Instagram page: “I want to speak on behalf of every child of the world. Everyone has dreams, their life has just begun, every child shouldn’t stop dreaming ”.
In general, all sports have taken a clear position: so the International Volleyball Federation has made it official that Russia will not be the venue for the men’s volleyball World Cup scheduled from 26 August to 11 September, the basketball Euroleague suspended CSKA Moscow, Unics Kazan and Zenit St. Petersburg from the competition and Lokomotiv Kuban from Eurocup. The International Tennis Federation has announced that it has indefinitely canceled all tournaments on the circuit scheduled in Russia, just as the world Federnuoto has canceled the Junior World Championships scheduled in Kazan. All Federgymnastics events in Russia and Belarus have been canceled from the calendar, the national teams of the two countries are excluded from any international rugby competition and all ski competitions have been canceled in the same countries.
