Ukraine steps up efforts to exclude Russian athletes from Paris Olympics

With next year’s Paris Olympics on the horizon and Russia’s invasion looking more like an ongoing conflict, Ukraine’s sports minister on Friday renewed threats to boycott the games if Russia and Belarus are allowed to compete and said Kyiv would lobby other countries to join.

The move could cause the biggest rift in the Olympic movement since the Cold War era.

No country has said it will boycott the 2024 Summer Olympics. But Ukraine won support from Poland, the Baltic states and Denmark, which pushed back against the International Olympic Committee’s plan to allow delegations from Russia and its ally Belarus to compete in Paris as “neutral athletes”. ,” without a flag or anthem.

“We cannot compromise on the recognition of Russian and Belarusian athletes,” said Ukraine’s Sports Minister Vadym Huttsait, who also heads the national Olympic committee, citing the attacks on his country, the deaths of athletes and the destruction of sports facilities.

Its committee meeting ruled out a boycott but approved a plan to try to persuade global sports officials over the next two months – including discussions about a possible boycott.

Huttsait added: “As a last resort, but I note that this is a personal opinion, if it is not successful, then we should boycott the Olympics.”

Paris will be the last Olympics under IOC chief Thomas Bach, who is searching for his legacy after his tenure was marked by disputes over the status of Russia – first over the widespread doping scandal and now the war in Ukraine.

Bach’s views were shaped when he was an Olympic gold medalist in fencing and his country, West Germany, participated in a US-led boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He has condemned the decision ever since.

Russia cautiously welcomed the IOC’s decision to give way to the Olympics, but demanded that it remove conditions that would exclude athletes it considers “actively supporting the war in Ukraine.”

Russian Olympic Committee Chairman Stanislav Pozdnyakov, who was Huttsait’s Ukrainian teammate at the 1992 Olympics, called this aspect discriminatory. The IOC, which previously recommended excluding Russia and Belarus from world sport on safety grounds, now denies it can discriminate based solely on nationality.

Baltic leaders threaten boycott

The leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania called on the IOC to ban Russia and said a boycott was a possibility.

“I think that our efforts should be to convince our friends and other allies that the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes is just a mistake,” said Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. “So a boycott is the next step. I think people will understand why this is necessary.”

The IOC said in a statement that “this threat of boycott only leads to a further escalation of the situation, not only in sports, but also in a wider context. It is regrettable that politicians misuse athletes and sports as a tool to achieve their political goals.”

Polish sports minister Kamil Bortniczuk said 40 countries could jointly condemn the participation of Russia and Belarus in Paris in a statement next week but could refrain from threats of boycotts. He told state news agency PAP that the IOC was “naive” and should reflect on its position.

Denmark wants to ban Russian athletes “from all international sports as long as the attack on Ukraine continues,” Danish Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said.

“We must not waver in our relationship with Russia. The government’s line is clear. Russia must be banned,” he said. “This also applies to Russian athletes participating under a neutral flag. It cannot be understood that there is any doubt about the line at the IOC.”

Asked by The Associated Press about the boycott threat and the IOC’s plans, Paris 2024 organizing committee chairman Tony Estanguet would not comment “on political decisions.”

“My task is to make sure that all the athletes who want to participate will be offered the best conditions in terms of security, to give them the opportunity to achieve their dreams,” he said in Marseille.

‘Very important’ for Ukraine at the Olympics

Ukraine boycotted several sporting events last year rather than compete with Russia.

Huttsait said the boycott would be very difficult, saying that “it is very important for us that our flag is at the Olympics; it is very important for us that the athletes are on the podium. So that we show that our Ukraine is, is, and will be.”

Marta Fedina, 21, an Olympic bronze medalist in artistic swimming, said in Kyiv she was “ready to boycott.”

Speakers at the Assembly meeting of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee expressed concern about Moscow using Paris for propaganda and noted close ties between some athletes and the Russian military.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that if athletes from the two countries compete, “it must be clear that they are not representing the countries of Russia or Belarus.” Los Angeles will host the 2028 Olympics.

Potentially neutral athletes

If the IOC proposal is implemented, Paris will be the fourth consecutive Olympics where Russian athletes compete without a flag or anthem. Russia’s teams at the Winter Olympics in 2018 and 2022 and the Summer Olympics in 2021 have all been caught up in the fallout from several doping cases.

Although the IOC set the tone for the debate by issuing advice on finding ways to help Russia and Belarus compete, decisions must be made for the individual sports governing bodies that organize events in the 32-sport Paris program.

These organizations, many of which are based at the IOC’s home in Lausanne, Switzerland, run Olympic qualifications and competitions and decide the qualification criteria for athletes and teams.

Sports take a separate approach

The International Cycling Union signed off on the IOC’s plan ahead of the Olympic qualifying event to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as “neutrals.”

World Athletics Track and field and FIFA football are among the sports that did not include Russian athletes and teams in the days since the war. Tennis and cycling allow many Russians and Belarusians to continue competing as neutrals. Other governing bodies are closer to the IOC or traditionally have strong commercial and political ties to Russia.

One important meeting could be March 3 in Lausanne of the Summer Games sports umbrella group, known as ASOIF. It is chaired by Francesco Ricci Bitti, a former IOC member when he headed the International Tennis Federation, and includes World Athletics president Sebastian Coe.

ASOIF declined to comment on Friday, although it said this week it was “important to respect the specifics of each federation and the specific qualification process” for Paris.