- Fernando Duarte
- BBC correspondent
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The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has become the latest sports organization to impose sanctions on Russia.
Just 24 hours before the opening of the Paralympic Winter Games, the organization’s attitude took a huge turn, and it decided to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics (Winter Palembang).
In recent days, Russian sport has been hit with multiple penalties: from being suspended from the 2022 Men’s World Cup to being stripped of the F1 Russian Grand Prix.
While sports figures and organizations around the world have expressed support for the punishment of Russia, questions have arisen around the fairness of such punishments.
“discriminatory behavior”
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Russia’s men’s soccer team has been excluded from the 2022 World Cup.
On Thursday (March 3), the Russian Paralympic Committee issued a statement accusing the International Paralympic Committee of punishing its athletes.
“According to this decision, Russian athletes appear to be the main culprits in the current politically complex situation,” the Russian Paralympic Committee said.
But IPC President Andrew Parsons said: “To the Paralympic athletes from the affected countries, we are deeply sorry that you were affected by your government’s decision to violate the Olympic Truce last week…you are your government. victim of the act.ā
The Russian Football Federation called the exclusion of Russian teams from the competition a “discriminatory act” and vowed to legally challenge FIFA’s decision.
“(The decision) is clearly discriminatory and hurts a large number of athletes, coaches, club and national team employees and, most importantly, millions of Russian fans,” the group said in a statement.
“Violation of sportsmanship”
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Among sports figures, former F1 driver Danil Kvyat, who is currently racing in rallying, said in a tweet on Tuesday (March 1) that banning Russian athletes is against sportsmanship.
“I am horrified to see brother countries in conflict,” he tweeted about the war in veiled criticism.
ā(But) I would also like to stress and say to all sports federations around the world, including the IOC, that sport should continue to be kept out of politics. Not allowing Russian athletes and teams to compete internationally is a form of An unfair solution that goes against the principles that sport teaches us – unity and peace.”
Despite a decision by motorsport’s governing body – the FIA āā- to allow Russian drivers to compete, bans have been issued at the local level. F1’s only Russian representative, Nikita Mazepin, will be banned from the British Grand Prix in July due to a ruling by the British Motorsport Association.
‘Invasion of Ukraine is a greater injustice’
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Thousands of people have been killed and displaced in Ukraine since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Dr Keith Rathbone, a sports historian at Macquarie University in Sydney, told the BBC that questions about the fairness of the sports ban were justified.
“Athletes can’t decide what their country does, so they now face penalties for not having much say.”
But Rathbone also said that sports people are indeed not immune to crises such as war.
āFor example, when you impose sanctions on Russian banks and various industries, there are a lot of people who are also affected indiscriminately,ā he added.
“The invasion of Ukraine is a greater injustice than what the athletes may face in the future.”
“You can’t keep pretending that sports and politics aren’t connected”
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Athletes from Russia and Belarus will not be allowed to participate in the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics.
Britain’s Tanni Grey-Thompson, one of the most successful Paralympic athletes of all time, said she sympathised with Russian athletes but was right to ban them.
Gray-Thompson told BBC Sport: “Life with a disability in Russia is very difficult and most athletes are funded only by the medals they win.”
“It’s hard, but we can’t keep pretending that sport and politics aren’t connected.”
“The International Paralympic Committee faces multiple countries refusing to compete. Almost every medal event will be affected,” she added.
It is not uncommon for Russian athletes to publicly criticize Moscow’s attack on Ukraine, including world No. 1 men’s tennis player Daniil Medvedev.
However, Rathbone said the decision to ban athletes should not be based on individual reactions.
“I don’t think a case-by-case analysis would convey the right message,” Rathbone explained.
“A stronger message would be to say ‘Russia is excluded until they withdraw from Ukraine.'”
Do sports sanctions work?
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Russia is not the first country to be banned from sporting events over violent clashes.
Past examples have shown that sports sanctions do not end wars or fundamentally address injustices.
South Africa spent decades of barren sports in the years of apartheid, before officially ending state-sponsored racism in 1991.
Likewise, Yugoslavia’s exclusion from the 1992 European Men’s Football Championship did not stop the horrific violence in the Balkans.
But Rasborn argues that given the outsized role sport has played in Russia’s recent history – Russia hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2018 World Cup – the point made by sports sanctions has strong symbolic significance.
“Sport has always been a powerful tool for Russia and President Vladimir Putin,” he believes.
“So it would be a positive step if sports organisations now reassess their relationship with Russia. Even if it comes too late.”