These will be special Olympic Games for Russian and Belarusian athletes against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. The selection process for these athletes is not yet complete, but it is already known that their number will be reduced. These athletes will be considered neutral: they will only be able to compete as individuals, without a flag, without an anthem, and they will not be able to participate in the opening ceremony.
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Only 32 Russian and 15 Belarusian athletes are currently on the list of the Neutral Individual Athlete Review Committee for the 2024 Olympic Games. Russian and Belarusian athletes had to pass a double check: first by international sports federations, then by a specialized committee of the IOC, the International Olympic Committee. The International Athletics Federation, for example, decided last year not to reinstate the Russians And Belarusians in the competition.
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Members of these commissions examine the profiles of athletes to determine that they have no links with the army and that they demonstrate at least political neutrality with regard to the invasion of Ukraine.
But despite careful monitoring by Ukrainians, some manage to get past this. This is the case, according to the specialist website Base of Ukrainian sport, of Russian wrestlers Arslan Bagayev and Nachin Mongush or Belarusian cyclist Anna Tserakh.
The exiled opponent, former senior official of the Lukashenko regime, Pavel Latushkafollows these qualifications closely: “ Sport is a tool in the service of the Lukashenko regime. Sport serves to improve the image of the dictator. Sport in Belarus is largely connected with military structures with special services, ministers, deputy ministers of the interior, the commander of the internal troops, the chairman of the KGB, etc. who are, at the same time, leaders of sports federations. “.
There are clubs in Russia that are linked to the army, like CSKA, or to the police, like Dynamo. But other professional clubs, like cycling or tennis, have looser relations with the authorities, according to Sylvain Dufraisse, lecturer at Nantes University and specialist in Russian and Soviet sport: ” Federations, athletes have income that does not depend on the State. It is the opposite in a whole bunch of other disciplines, where the income of athletes, and their status, depend either on sponsors who are close to power, or on subsidies from the State. “.
It should be noted that several athletes have themselves declined the invitations, such as the cyclist Alexander Vlassov, or the double Olympic swimming champion in Tokyo in the 100 and 200 m backstroke, Evgeny Rylov, who said he was giving up the Olympic Games so as not to ” to stoop to the level of Western provocateurs “, a tone in line with the Kremlin. These behaviors can also be dictated by ” the fear of mobilization and media reprisals against those athletes who would dare to participate in the game under a neutral banner. In the Russian press, there are debates on the interest of participating in these games in conditions that the Russian leaders consider humiliating “, says Sylvain Dufraisse. ” We have nothing to do with the West. The IOC makes shameful demands on Russian athletes ” writes the online newspaper pravda.ruon July 1, arguing for alternative games like those of Brics, which took place in Kazanlast month.
Nikita Nagornyy, Olympic gymnastics team champion in Tokyo, will not come either like all Russian gymnasts. At the head of a patriotic youth movement Yunarmia (Youth Army), created at the initiative of the Russian Defense Ministry, is under US sanctions due to its support for the assault on Ukraine.
The Russian Judo Federation, a sport dear to Vladimir Putin, has also decided not to send any judoka, a way, according to Sylvain Dufraisse, ” to show proximity to the government’s discourse “.
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How many Russian and Belarusian athletes will participate in the 2024 Olympic Games? The final list will be closed on July 8. For the IOC, it is important that a certain number take part, emphasizes Sylvain Dufraisse. “CThis allows us to challenge the discourse of Vladimir Poutine who believes that international federations and the IOC are ethnically discriminating against Russians and politicizing sport by moving away from the values of Olympism. Welcoming Russian and Belarusian athletes for the IOC is both a way of showing its ecumenism and defending a universal vision of sport, so it is very important for the IOC “.
There is, in any case, one category of athletes who will certainly not be able to participate in these Paris Games, namely the athletes who have spoken out against the government and who are now living in exile. For months, Pavel Latouchka has been trying to draw the attention of sports authorities and the French authorities to their fate, but without success. Belarusian athletes who protested against the regime are subject to a double sanction: first from the Lukashenko regime, which expelled them from professional sports, from national teams, and, secondly, from international bodies which did not grant them the right to participate in competitions. “, says the exiled opponent. Then we can ask ourselves: why should an athlete fight for human rights? Why should he denounce violence, torture, war, if in the end he loses everything? This creates a situation where it is more beneficial to be on the side of the aggressors and dictators, because then you have a chance to participate in the Olympic Games with a neutral status, while if you are a free athlete against violence against war, you have no chance. “.
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