Britain had convened a remote meeting for Friday, in which ministers from 35 different countries participated. The meeting discussed the possible return of Russians and Belarusians to sports.
The International Olympic Committee recommended the exclusion of Russia and its supporter Belarus from international sports after Russia started a war of aggression in Ukraine. However, the IOC has recently announced that it will find out whether Russians and Belarusians could participate, for example, in next year’s Summer Olympics in Paris as “neutral athletes”.
That, in turn, has sparked talk of possible boycotts of the Paris Olympics. Chairman of the IOC Thomas Bach on the other hand, pointed out, for example, about the plans to boycott Ukraine. According to him, the country’s efforts “to pressure other countries to boycott the 2024 Games are very unfortunate”. According to the IOC, the boycott intentions violate the basic principles of the Olympic idea.
Minister of Sports of Lithuania Jurgita Siugzdiniene said after Friday’s meeting, according to Reuters, that all 35 participating countries are on the front, which opposes allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to the Paris Olympics in 2024. According to the minister, in addition to the Baltic countries, Poland and the Nordic countries, the United States, Germany, Japan, France, Iso -Britain and Australia.
– We are going in the direction that we would not need a boycott, because all countries are unanimous, Siugzdiniene felt.
Also the Minister of Sports of Poland Kamil Bortniczuk said that a boycott is not on the table for now, as there are still other ways to put pressure on the IOC.
– Terror and Olympism are two opposites, they cannot be combined, British sports minister Lucy Frazer stated.
Zelenskyi pleaded: Symbols do not matter
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi participated in an online meeting where he noted that 228 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have died as a result of the Russian attack.
– If there was an Olympic sport with killings and missile strikes, you know which national team would take first place, Zelenskyi told the ministers.
According to Zelensky, whether Russians compete without their national symbols or not is irrelevant.
– It is also the case that the Russian occupiers destroyed normal life without any symbols, Zelenskyi stated.
The Polish minister considered a “compromise solution”
According to Reuters, Polish Sports Minister Bortniczuk said that almost all countries had supported the absolute exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes.
– Most of the votes – with the exception of Greece, France and Japan – were exactly in this tone.
Bortniczuk hinted as a “compromise solution” that the “only possibility” for Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the Olympics would be to allow athletes who oppose the regimes of Russia and Belarus to participate in the Games. These dissidents would be taken into the refugee team.
According to the minister, the admission of dissidents to the Games would allow the IOC to “save face”.
Secretary General of the Human Rights Association Kaari Mattila previously rejected the idea in ‘s morning.
– Not in any case. In other organizations, we can’t collect signatures of conscience or attitudes either. There would be many kinds of legal problems, Mattila stated.
Read more: The return of the Russians to sports is stirring, the UN appeals to human rights – the Finnish Olympic Committee thinks that the talks of a boycott are premature
An IOC representative declined to comment on Friday’s meeting to Reuters. This appealed to the fact that he does not know the content of the meeting.
Finland’s Petri Honkonen told about the meeting
Also the Minister of Science and Culture of Finland Petri Honkonen (center) attended a meeting called by Britain. He stated to STT that the message of the meeting was that “nothing has changed” in the situation of Russian and Belarusian athletes.
– Zelenskyi strongly appealed to the sports community not to allow Russia and Belarus to participate in the Games. A very sharp message, understandably so. I myself emphasized that we are open to new positions and I hoped that we would find a common will of all countries in this matter, Honkonen said.
Honkonen’s own position is also negative.
– I see very far that it could be morally acceptable. I have emphasized everywhere that the sports administration in Russia is particularly close to the state machinery, that is, in practice (the president Vladimir) Putin’s administration.
Honko is worried about the relaxed talk of the IOC and certain countries about Russian and Belarusian sports collars.
– In the countries of the southern hemisphere, unfortunately, people may think that the conflict in Ukraine is just a small border dispute within Europe and that it has nothing to do with sports.
Honkonen does not want to speculate on the idea of how Finland should act if the IOC gives the green light to the return of athletes from those countries. The same applies to the idea of possible Olympic boycotts.
– First of all, it would be the decision of the sports community, not the state. Ultimately, I would like to protect Finnish athletes from a situation where some kind of personal pressure is put on them. Let’s do everything at this point so that you don’t even have to think about such a thing.
Sources: Reuters, STT Urheilu