When Russia invaded Ukraine, the international sports world reacted strongly. According to researcher Markku Jokisipilä, international sports would have a place to distance people from countries that oppress human rights.
The importance of sport to the Russian state has been great for decades, and the relationship between the country’s state leadership and sport has been quite close. Researcher at the University of Turku Markku Jokisipilän according to the world’s largest states, Russia has been exactly where this has been most distinctive.
Especially Vladimir Putin in the era, the state leadership has invested heavily in the success of Russian sports internationally. It has also been invested in Russia getting as many mega-events as possible.
That is why Jokisipilä thinks it has been very important that sport has participated in sanctions against Russia since the country invaded Ukraine.
– For its part, sport sends a clear message. Such an open challenge to a rules-based international system using armed violence is simply not acceptable, Jokisipilä said at the Sports Studio.
Jokisipilä has been delighted with the common front of the sport, as the “curriculum vitae” of the sport has not been very flattering in recent years. Over the last 20 years, competitions have been awarded to countries that trample on human rights, among other things.
“Equally, one can think about the discussions that have taken place time and time again about the International Olympic Committee’s relationship with human rights thinking and support for democracy,” Jokisipilä said.
Journalist for Urheil, well versed in Russian sports Jelena Leppänen told the Sports Studio that the close relationship of the Russian state leadership with sports has made a lot possible, especially for individual athletes.
– Many individual athletes get a good salary for playing sports and being able to build a career. They have been told from the beginning that this is thanks to the government and you have a president who loves sports so much that he invests in you. Yes, they know who the money comes from, Leppänen said.
Why are Russian athletes silent?
Ukrainian athletes have used their own public position to condemn the war and show what is happening in the country. The reactions of Russian athletes have been different.
According to Leppänen, there are two extremes among Russian athletes: those who support the war and those who condemn it. The overwhelming majority will remain silent.
– There have been some exits. It has been said that there is opposition to war, but that does not say who is being blamed for the war or who is being called to end it.
– It has been a kind of middle ground that the majority of athletes walk. That is, either nothing is said or something is said that cannot be accidentally interpreted as contrary to the Russian authorities.
One such athlete who remains completely silent has been a high jumper Marija Lasitskene. Still during the Tokyo Olympics, Lasitskene posed as a Ukrainian bronze medalist To Yaroslav Mahutshi with and communicated that whatever happened in politics, athletes consider one.
– Now his Ukrainian colleagues have tried to ask the Russians to challenge the authorities, question the war and do something, but Lasitsekene has remained silent, Leppänen said.
According to Leppänen, athletes can also wrestle against moral contradiction. Lasitsekene, for example, was appointed captain of the Russian army a few years ago, just like a ski star Alexander Bolshunov was appointed following the success of Beijing.
– The athlete learns to be such a big part of the machinery that it may be difficult to comprehend. He may even be a certain kind of soldier in that system. There is quite a contradiction when, on the other hand, there is a friendship, a certain conception of morality and ethics. On the other hand, there is a system with a solid piece.
European Championship medalist in hammer throw Sergei Litvinov said in an interview with Sport this week that many athletes are also seeing the direction the situation in Russia is heading.
The system of repression is worsening, the mouths of the people are being blocked, peaceful demonstrations are being dismantled and prison sentences are being handed down. It incites fear, and athletes don’t necessarily fear just for themselves.
– They have an equal family and family in Russia. They feel that a bigger community is in danger then, Leppänen said.
Even the riverbank would not go on to moralize those who are silent, because the situation in Russia is different from what Western people are used to.
– Yes, we have seen how difficult it is to practice political dissent in Russia, for example. These athletes are forced to take a variety of things into account when considering whether to go public to condemn this system, Jokisipilä said.
In Jokisipilä’s opinion, however, it can be said to some extent that the Russians are collectively responsible for having a figure like Putin in the lead.
– Putin has succeeded extremely well in creating a situation in which signs of parity are drawn between Russian patriotism and support for Putin. This is the connection that should be disconnected. Because I don’t think Russian patriotism will necessarily go away. It should somehow be disconnected from Putin, Jokisipilä said.
A historic opportunity to clean your own nest
Jokisipilä believes that the sports community cannot do much other than what it has already done. The exclusion of Russia from the international sports system and community is one of the hardest tricks in the sanctions arsenal and is now in place. Jokisipilä reminds that sports are just sports.
– The obligation to resolve the crisis in Ukraine must remain at the level of political decision-makers and the international system, the states. Sport only has a certain limit, although it has the potential to make an impact.
Jokisipilä sees that sport has a historic opportunity to clean its own nest. Throughout history, international sports have attracted all sorts of “bandits” and now it is possible to break such connections.
– Maybe now we have reached some kind of last point and we are starting to think seriously about what it means to always say that politics and sports should not be confused.
In sports, however, there is enough to clean. The Olympics and Paralympics have just taken place in China, the World Cup in Qatar is being played in football and next year’s World Hockey Championships are still in Russia. All of these countries have been in the headlines for trampling on human rights.
– It is a metaphysical question who owns the sport. It is good to think about it and think about how sport has ended up in the pockets of the International Olympic Committee, for example. Is it a situation that can be justified? Jokisipilä asked.
The time for soft power is over
For individual athletes, sanctions mean that for many, their own sports career is likely to be over. Litvinov said in an interview that sports are currently running out in Russia and he does not see how sports could even develop in the country.
Putin has invested a huge amount of time and money to get the mega events of the sport to Russia and the success of the sports machinery. According to Jokisipilä, this is now history and Russian sports are paying the toughest bill for their close connection to the state administration.
– It is completely obscure what the role of Russian athletes in international sports will be. It is safe to predict that we are talking about a perspective of several years before we ever return to any normal situation, Jokisipilä said.
In his view, Russia is a textbook example for sport of what can happen in the worst case scenario when sport is too closely associated with politicians and state leadership.
Jokisipilä believes that Putin has now pulled all the benefits of sports down the toilet bowl and shown that the time for soft power is over
– Yes, Putin has now moved to such a level that sports really don’t matter anymore, Jokisipilä said.