The Olympic Committee has not made a separate policy on whether Finnish athletes representing Russian organizations are allowed to represent Finland in the national team.
Aino Paloniemi,
Simo Arkko
The Finnish Volleyball Federation announced last week about the decision to close the libero Lauri Kerminen away from national team activities, because Kerminen may continue his career in the club team in Russia. Finland’s number one libero has been suspended from the national team for the time being.
Chairman of the Finnish Olympic Committee Jan Vapaavuori consider the Volleyball Association’s decision to be sober.
– I thought this was a welcome and good breakthrough.
– It is very difficult to see that at the same time we could have athletes who play sports within the scope of the state-led Russian sports system and at the same time represent the Finnish national team.
The Volleyball Federation made the decision independently, without instructions from the Olympic Committee. The Olympic Committee has not separately outlined how sports federations should act if a Finnish athlete represents a Russian club or plays in Russia. However, Vapaavuori connects the situation to the Olympic Committee’s previous instructions to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from international sports activities.
– The general policy that Russians and Belarusians are excluded from international sports activities covers this, but now that this type of case came up, it is good that the policy is clarified and clarified.
Vapaavuori says that the decision-making power ultimately belongs to the sports associations.
– Perhaps the point of view is, in a nutshell, that if a Finnish athlete decides to participate in organized sports activities in Russia, which is clearly part of the state’s propaganda apparatus, then the right to participate in Finnish national team activities should be denied at least for that period.
Sports federations in front of guidelines
Along with Kerminen, there is at least one hockey player among the national team-level athletes Teemu Pulkkinen and an ice ball player Tuomas Määtä are involved in club activities in Russia.
Chairman of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association Harri Nummela comments on the subject in general, saying that it is challenging to see a hockey player who plays in a club team in Russia representing the national team “in the current world situation”. In the ice hockey association, Määtä’s situation will be met by a chairman Antti Parviainen to be discussed at the federal government meeting in August.
The possible policies of sports federations affect the activities of individual athletes. However, according to Vapaavuori, the matter should be seen on a wider scale.
– It is clear that policies of this type cause or may cause great damage to individual athletes, but now it is good to note that there is still substantially greater suffering in the background in Ukraine, and that both Finnish society and the international community are constantly making quite big sacrifices.
According to the current recommendation of the Olympic Committee, Russian athletes living in Finland are welcome to participate in sports activities organized in Finland. However, national and international guidelines differ for several species. Among other things, the International Motor Sports Federation has not banned Russian athletes from their activities, and Russian drivers will be seen in the World Rally Championship in Jyväskylä next week.
Vapaavuori does not feel the need to change the law
Nor has the ice hockey championship league made a policy on banning Russian athletes. Competition director Arto I. Järväla says that the clubs themselves have been allowed to make their decisions for the time being.
– The players are employees of the clubs and have contracts with the clubs. The clubs themselves have decided their own affairs, who has then dissolved and who has not. The league has not centrally taken a stand on the matter, at least so far, Järvelä said.
Among the SM league clubs, only Rauma Luko currently has a Russian player in their team as a goalkeeper by Artjom Zagidulin has a contract with the club. The situation is exceptional, because usually in the domestic hockey league, Russian athletes have been in the majority of the teams.
According to Vapaavuori, for example, there is no need for legislative changes, because in general the sports federations have tried to follow the guidelines of Finland and the International Olympic Committee.
– I don’t think that it is worth taking legislative measures in this particular situation. I have liked this general line of ours quite well, i.e. a clear line that Russians and Belarusians will be excluded from international sports activities and that this type of cooperation will not be practiced with them either.