The International Paralympic Committee decided a week and a half ago that Russian and Belarusian athletes will be able to participate in next year’s Paralympic Games in Paris.
That is why it has been suggested that the International Olympic Committee make a similar decision. The IOC is meeting this week in India.
Chairman of the Athletes’ Commission of the International Olympic Committee Emma Terho states that there is a discussion in India about competition between Russians and Belarusians, but he does not believe that any actual decision will come.
– No pre-determined schedules have been made. I don’t see that it is timely to make a decision at this time. If a favorable decision is made, it is practically impossible to back out, Terho tells Urheilu.
The pressure to include Russian athletes has grown. Chairman of the IOC Thomas Bach has publicly hoped to accept the Russians for next summer’s Olympics as well.
The Non-Aligned Movement, comprising 120 countries expressed his support for it in July, that all countries would participate in the Paris Olympics. The Nordic countries and several European countries have been strongly against Russian participation. In February The sports ministers of 35 countries issued a statement opposing the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Paris Olympics.
Finland’s position is clear
In Finland, the Olympic Committee has strongly highlighted its negative position. Last Monday, the chairman of the board of the Olympic Committee Jan Vapaavuori repeated In an interview with Ilta-Sanomithat now is not the time for Russians and Belarusians to return to international sports.
Emma Terho considers it a good thing that Finland, the other Nordic countries and the Baltic countries have clearly expressed their views. According to Terho, however, there will be a lot of counter-arguments behind the scenes.
– Many look at the situation from a perspective that is affected by their own region, wars, history, natural disasters, Terho enumerates.
– The comments show why their distress has not been seen or reacted to. Let’s highlight the role of sports as a rare means of socializing in the midst of war.
According to Terho, the majority view in the corridor discussions is that solutions should be found, and not judged based on what the leader of a country does.
Between the lines, one could draw the conclusion that there is a desire to include the Russians in the Olympics?
– There is such a (desire) that there is readiness or in what way it could be solved. It keeps coming up in conversations. There will also be a point of view, whether athletes are used as a propaganda tool. However, discussions are taking place. The position of Finland, the Nordic countries and the Baltics has come to the fore, but it has to be justified a lot, says Terho.
Athletics is not going to let the Russians into the Olympics
At the end of March, the board of the International Olympic Committee recommended that individual athletes from Russia and Belarus be accepted back into international competitions without country codes under certain conditions. However, the recommendation would not yet apply to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris or the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
These so-called neutral athletes are not allowed to show support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. They must not have connections with the armies or intelligence services of Russia or Belarus. In addition, they must meet all requirements related to doping testing.
The IOC’s recommendation stated that the national teams of Belarus or Russia are still not allowed to compete. That’s why you won’t see Russians in team sports at the Olympics next summer.
Among the giants of the Summer Olympics, athletics has not followed the recommendation of the International Olympic Committee, but has continued to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions.
President of the Sports Association Riikka Pakarinen according to the International Association of Athletics Federations WA can ban the Russians from Paris as well, even if the IOC allows the Russians to compete in the Olympics. WA’s view has been that the Russians will not be admitted to the Games until the war in Ukraine is completely over.
– Based on the discussions I’ve had, at least at the moment, there is a very strong opinion that the vision and the line would not slip, Pakarinen states.
The IOC’s Terho also confirms that individual sports federations have the final authority.
– The international sports federations define the qualification criteria and who, through their qualifications, gets to the Olympics. On the other hand, even if you get to the games through the qualifiers, there is still a chance to block, Emma Terho states.
Russians already compete in many sports
In fourteen sports of the Summer Olympics, the international sports federation has allowed Russians to compete, but they have not yet been seen at all in international competitions.
This is the case, for example, with the Russians’ traditional sports of success in gymnastics and shooting. In gymnastics, Russian athletes will be allowed to compete without national symbols from the beginning of next year.
Of the big sports in swimming the international sports federation decided in September to allow Russians and Belarusians with certain additional conditions. Russians and Belarusians could compete without country codes, one per distance.
As a special rule, Russian and Belarusian swimmers are not allowed to give interviews at all after the competition. Russians and Belarusians could return to the competition arenas at the end of October at the World Cup in Budapest.
In shooting, the international sports federation already made a decision in principle in April that Russians and Belarusians could compete without country codes under the boundary conditions in accordance with the IOC’s recommendations. However, the return rules have not been specified, so they have not been seen competing. In September, the decision on the rules was postponed until the next meeting.
In paddling, athletes are allowed to participate in competitions without country codes, but they have not been able to participate due to the decision of the competition organizers. Olympic qualifiers and other international competitions have been organized in countries where Russians have not been allowed.
There will be no Russian athletes in weightlifting at the Paris Olympics, because no Russian passed the criteria of a neutral athlete before the deadline for participating in the Olympic qualifiers passed. 13 Belarusians are participating in the qualifiers.
A complete collapse in the successful sport of wrestling
In nine sports, Russians and Belarusians already compete without country codes. It hasn’t gone without problems either. For example, in fencing, the European Championships for Russians and Belarusians were favorably moved from Poland to Bulgaria.
At the World Championships, the Ukrainian fencer was rejected because he did not agree to shake hands with his Russian opponent after the match. The Finnish fencing and pentathlon federation announced at the time that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be banned from international competition until the end of the war.
The World Junior Wrestling Championships had to be moved out of Finland, because the International Wrestling Federation UWW would have liked Russians and Belarusians to participate in the competitions.
Russia has won the most medals in athletics and wrestling in its Olympic history. At the end of September, however, there was a dip in the World Cup pressure for adults, when the Russians competed without national symbols in Belgrade.
They won only one match in the six Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling series.
– The Russians kept to themselves, and did not perform in a normal way knowing their worth. They refrained from socializing. It was quite a surprise that the athletes, who were known to be strong, were not at the expected level, the Executive Director of Painiliitto Pasi Sarkkinen described to Urheilu during the World Cup.
– Even though Russia is a big wrestling country, they haven’t been able to maintain the quality. They have apparently suffered quite a lot from the lack of financial resources.
There have also been problems with so-called neutral athletes afterwards. For example, at the Taekwondo World Championships in the summer competed Russian and Belarusian World Cup medalists who had shown their support for the Russian army on social media.
Researcher on Russia’s return: “It’s impossible not to stir up bad blood”
The president of the sports association Riikka Pakarinen would hope that the International Olympic Committee would not allow Russians and Belarusians to compete in the Paris Olympics.
– At the moment, their chairman has hinted that permission would possibly be granted if national symbols were not used. I personally think that it doesn’t change the situation at all. In Russia, elite sports are a completely state-owned activity. Even if those athletes compete without the Russian flag, they are part of it Vladimir Putin a war propaganda machine, Pakarinen says.
Working as a professor of political history at the University of Turku Vesa Vares states that sports will go against the flow of the rest of society if Russians and Belarusians are allowed to participate in next year’s Olympics.
Sanctions have been imposed on Russia in other areas of society, but in sports the doors would be opened for the biggest event.
– Including Russia would be a very special signal, which cannot help but stir up bad blood, Vares sums up.
He would see the acceptance of the Russians to the Olympics as a big victory for Russia.
– It would mean a lot of visibility in the world. Of course, it would first of all be easy to market it in one’s own country in the desired way, Vares estimates.