By providing for the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the fold of world sport, the Olympic International Committee has caused the anger of kyiv and its supporters.
by Aude Lasjaunias and Nicolas Lepeltier
For the “unifying mission” of sport, it is missed. By revealing, on January 25, a roadmap marking the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes in major international competitions, the president of the International Olympic Committee (CIO), Thomas Bach, only brought the divisions to their climax. To the point that Ukraine could give up sending a delegation to the Paris Games 2024. The subject must be discussed, Friday, February 3, during an extraordinary general assembly of its National Olympic Committee (CNO). “The threat of a boycott becomes credible,” said Lukas Aubin, research director at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS) and specialist in sport geopolitics.
On February 28, 2022, the IOC recommended that international federations and competition organizers not invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes. The words had been weighed, there is no question of “banishing” or “exclude”. “The heavy heart”, the instance based in Lausanne had still broken with its traditional neutrality. A response to the war in Ukraine, launched four days earlier by Vladimir Putin, with the help of Belarus. The IOC recommendation had been followed by effect: in the majority of disciplines, the sportsmen of the two countries were declared Personæ non gratæ.
Almost a year later, the fights did not stop in Ukraine, but the position of the IOC has increased. For the past two weeks, discussions have multiplied with international federations – the only ultimate decision -makers -, the national Olympic committees, the members of the IOC and the athletes, to define the methods of a return of the Russians and the Belarusses in the fold of Global sport: under neutral banner and provided that the athletes concerned did not actively support the war in Ukraine “.
inconceivable
“A reversal is now taking place on the side of the IOC, because there is a deadline: the start of the Olympic qualifications. If we want there to be Russians and Belarusses at the Paris Games, we must That they can participate in the selections, “sums up Patrick Clastres, historian of Olympism and professor at the University of Lausanne.
For kyiv, this perspective is inconceivable. “Olympism and terrorist states must not cross paths,” insisted President Volodymyr Zelensky, on January 29, a few days after inviting Thomas Bach to go to Bakhmout, where the fights are raging.
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