After Ukraine told its athletes on March 30 that they should not compete against Russians or Belarusians at Olympic qualifying events, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) responded by pledging “direct support” to anyone affected by that policy.
“If implemented, such a decision would … hurt only the Ukrainian athlete community and the National Sports Federations, and in no way impact the war that the world wants to stop, and that the IOC has so vehemently condemned,” the IOC wrote in its latest update to its Q&A regarding the participation of athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport in international competitions. “The IOC has always maintained that it is not up to governments to decide which athletes can participate in which international competitions.
“Therefore, if this was implemented, the athletes who want to compete and would lose the support of their National Sports Federation and their National Olympic Committee because of government interference, could count on the direct support of the Olympic Movement’s Solidarity Fund for the Olympic community of Ukraine and the athletes’ support programmes of the IOC.”
In other words, the IOC is offering to help Ukrainian athletes break their own government’s policy. It’s not the first time the IOC president Thomas Bach & Co. have clashed with Ukraine over the past few months on the issue of Russian and Belarusian participation at the Paris 2024 Olympics in the wake of their war against Ukraine, which passed the one-year mark in February.
In January, Russian and Belarusian athletes were given a pathway to Olympic qualification when the Olympic Council of Asia opened the doors for them to compete at this year’s Asian Games. The IOC came out in support of Russian and Belarusian participation as neutral athletes with no national flags or anthems, prompting criticism from Ukraine that the IOC rejected as “defamatory.” In February, Ukraine threatened to boycott the Paris 2024 Olympics if Russia and Belarus are allowed to participate, a move that the IOC called “premature” and warned would be in violation of the Olympic Charter.
Last week, World Aquatics announced it was exploring a pathway for Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to aquatic competition as neutral athletes, but the governing body won’t have a report ready until July, rendering them unable to participate in the World Championships from July 14-30 in Fukuoka.
