Dhe International Olympic Committee (IOC) is outraged again. How can you, it accuses the British government in particular, endanger the existence of the Olympic movement? A sacrilege! The end of world sport is approaching if it catches on. What then?
The IOC answers in a self-asked question: How does it comment on the request from the Ministry of Culture and Sports that IOC sponsors be allowed to comment on the participation of Russians in international competitions? The questioner’s answer to himself: “It is not up to governments to decide which athletes are allowed to compete in which international competitions.”
Putin’s long arm is floating
The IOC is right. Governments should never be allowed to decide on athlete nominations. They do it often enough. That is why the IOC warning that world sport “as we know it today” is in danger is so palpable. Only it should be addressed to a different addressee.
Or does anyone seriously believe that Russian athletes, mostly army personnel or funded by other state bodies, would be sent off to the field of honor if they publicly described the aggressive war against Ukraine as such? Putin’s long arm hovers over every nomination process. Russia is gearing up for a parallel battle with the final at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.
Politicians shouldn’t be allowed to criticize this continued devaluation of Olympia as Putin’s next propaganda show? The more than 30 Western governments voting against allowing Russians back into the sports family before the end of the war claim no right to interfere with the autonomy of the sport. But they are courting comrades-in-arms, the British now with the donors of the IOC. Because they know what might still be moving the Olympic family. And because they are convinced that they can protect world sport from the abyss. That’s honorable.