– Friends. It’s time for us to unite and support the boys who have been drafted into the military and are now defending our country.
Taekwondo’s reigning Olympic champion Vladislav Larin appeared at the end of 2022 in a video published by Petroskoi city administration, which was used to raise money for Russian soldiers sent to the war in Ukraine.
Among other things, a Russian website reported on Larin’s participation in the collection campaign Respublika.
Now 28-year-old Larin has secured a place for the Paris Olympics in the qualification system of the International Taekwondo Federation ITF. Like other Russians and Belarusians on their way to the Games, Larin is going to Paris with the status of a neutral athlete (Individual Neutral Athlete).
In Ukraine, this is considered appalling.
– We find it shocking that Larin was allowed to compete internationally. He has openly raised money for the Russian army and belongs to the (army club) TsSKA. What more evidence is needed here? Deputy Minister of Sports of Ukraine Andriy Chesnokov commented to Urheilu.
The International Olympic Committee IOC announced in December that Russian and Belarusian individual athletes will be allowed to participate in the Paris Olympics as so-called neutral athletes.
Getting to the Games requires clearing the Olympic qualification for your sport, but also meeting certain conditions. For example, athletes may not show public support for Russia’s war in Ukraine or be part of their country’s military or security services.
Polemics in martial arts
According to Ukrainian sports decision-makers, several Russian athletes who do not meet the above-mentioned conditions have sought the place of the Paris Games.
– The International Judo Federation has allowed a number of Russian athletes who are openly part of the CSKA and have military titles to participate in their games, Ukrainian Minister Chesnokov says.
Especially in martial arts, neutrality interpretations have raised questions. For example, athletes who have been involved have been allowed to participate in prestigious wrestling competitions Vladimir Putin in the administration’s propaganda events after the outbreak of the war.
About the Russian wrestlers who cleared the Olympic qualifiers Zaur Uguyev and Zaurbek Sidakov were At the Putin support concert organized at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow in March 2022.
Many international martial arts federations have been generously supported with Russian money. Andrij Chesnokov believes it affects who is allowed to compete.
– I can’t figure out what other reasons there could be for this kind of activity. We know very well that, for example, Russian judokas are part of the army, although they themselves now claim otherwise. It seems that they are talking black and white and the international sports federation just nods.
Further investigation known
Ukraine has been actively lobbying to keep certain athletes out of the Games. The country’s politicians, sports decision-makers and the media are in regular contact with the IOC and the French administration.
Chesnokov spoke on the subject, for example, at the international Play the Game conference held in February. On the same occasion, was a member of the board of the International Olympic Committee Kristin Kloster said at the time that the IOC will establish an independent investigation team during the spring, which will look into the backgrounds of the Russian and Belarusian athletes who have cleared the Olympic qualifiers.
If the investigation team finds evidence that the athlete does not meet the conditions of neutral status, entry to the Olympics will be denied. So far, the IOC has not said who is involved in the investigation team and how the work is carried out in practice.
– Our position is clear. We don’t want to face Russian or Belarusian athletes at the Olympics, because it goes against the basic principle of the Olympic idea, i.e. peace. The fact that athletes like Larin, who support the war, do not get to the Games is a condition for the Ukrainian team to participate, says Chesnokov.
Varying practices
The activities of the international sports federations have varied sharply when it comes to the competition of Russians and Belarusians.
For example, the International Association of Athletics Federations WA has stated that athletes from the countries in question are not welcome in international arenas as long as the war in Ukraine is ongoing. Russian and Belarusian track and field athletes have therefore not been able to aim for a place at the summer Olympics.
The same situation applies to team sports such as football, basketball, volleyball or beach volleyball. The IOC has decided that teams from Russia or Belarus may not participate in the five ring games. Only individual athletes are allowed to compete with neutral status.
Will the Russian bosses deny participation?
The Olympic qualifiers are ongoing throughout the spring and last in many sports until the beginning of summer.
Russian and Belarusian athletes have the opportunity to qualify for the Olympics in several sports. Whether the Russian leadership forbids its athletes from participating in the Paris Games is entirely its own question.
Many Russian sports bosses consider the participation conditions and neutral status of the Olympics to be humiliating.
President of the country’s Olympic Committee Stanislav Pozdnyakov has made it clear on several occasions that participating in the summer’s big event would be an unpatriotic act.
Read more: Analysis: Russian bosses offer money and fear to keep athletes out of Olympics – to avoid major humiliation
Among other things, the Russian gymnastics, swimming and weightlifting federations have announced that they will not send their athletes to the Olympics or their qualifying competitions. Russian swimmers missed the World Long Course Championships held in Qatar in February.
At the end of February, Vladimir Putin urged the country’s Olympic Committee to make a concrete proposal on how to deal with the Paris Games.
Russia’s Olympic bosses are soon organizing a meeting to decide whether the organization recommends the athletes to stay at home and focus on the Friendship Games organized in the fall.