Athletes Of Ukraine & Global Athlete Tell IOC Blanket Ban On Russia & Belarus Must Hold Firm: ‘Sportspeople Part Of Kremlin’s Foreign Policy’

2022-09-22 Reading Time: 4 minutes

The Athletes of Ukraine and Global Athlete have joined forces to call on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its affiliates to hold firm on the blanket ban on Russia and Belarus from International sport. The move comes as s[eculkation swirls that the IOC is already seeking ways to get athletes from the aggressor country’s back in competition with less that two years to go before Paris hosts the 2024 Olympic Games.

The grounds for keeping Russia and Belarus in the sin bin come down to this from the athletes’ official statement:

” … the IOC stands in a powerful position to prevent Russia from continuing to use athletes as a tool for foreign policy…

In using the Olympic Games to advance its geopolitical agenda in the lead-up to the invasion of Ukraine, Russia made sport a theater of this war. Russia used the 2022 Beijing Olympics, on the eve of the invasion, to strengthen its relationship with China.

In 2014, Russia similarly used a home Olympics in Sochi and a state sponsored doping program to bolster its international standing before annexing Crimea.

Russia has also used its athletes, both before and during the war, in state propaganda and has elevated athletes to high-ranking positions in the armed forces.

Russia has proven time and time again that athletes are an integral part of its foreign policy.

Athletes of Ukraine and Global Athlete. Photo: The Champagne Dries Up but efforts are still being made to find ways to keep Russia in the Olympic fold and have its athletes return to international competition: IOC president Thomas Bach raises a glass with Vladimir Putin in the year of the invasion of Crimea before the war on Ukraine gave the IOC no option but to strip Putin of the Olympic Order
Evgeny Rylov, second left, at the Putin propaganda rally on Friday, March 18, 2022 – there is no telling quite what is going through the hearts and minds of the athletes in a snap shot but it is fair to say that at the moment of the snap, there were significant differences between the moods of the athletes about to be paraded as symbols of nationalistic pride at a time when Ukraine is bathing in blood and destruction – Twitter

The parading of athletes in official sports kit (with the Z symbol added in prominent position) at a Putin war rally in Moscow that led to the suspension of Olympic backstroke champion Evgeny Rylov offered firm evidence that athletes have indeed been used as pawns in Putin’s bloody and brutal invasion of the sovereign county of Ukraine, which has been accompanied by threats of nuclear strikes.

Rylov appeared among gymnasts and figure skaters bearing the “Z” symbol that was worn by Russia’s Ivan Kuliak at the gymnastics World Cup in Doha two weeks ago. He was beaten to gold by Ukraine’s Illia Kovtun. Kuliak was also sanctioned.

“Z” became a pro-war symbol since it was painted on Russian military vehicles invading Ukraine. Sewn on the sports jackets of all athletes at the Putin rally, the symbol has been used by the Russian government as a propaganda tool and has been classified as a symbol equivalent to the swastika by the Czech government. It has been banned in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Public-sector workers at the rally told western media in Moscow that they had no choice but to attend after buses arrived at their workplaces to take them to the stadium, where they were handed flags. 

It is unknown whether Rylov was coerced in that way. The swimmer, the son of former footballer Mikhail Rylov, is a staff police sergeant of the Moscow Oblast Police force.

Statement On Russia & Belarus Ban From Athletes Of Ukraine & Global Athlete

22/09/22: As the IOC uses their Olympic pawns to test the waters on bringing back Russia and Belarus into the Olympic Movement, athletes from around the globe remain steadfast in their calls for Russia and Belarus to be banned from international sport events.

Over the past eight years Russian and Belarusian authorities have torn families apart and brutally taken the lives of thousands of innocent Ukrainian citizens. While we recognize that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) cannot stop the violence, we do know that as leaders of sport the IOC stands in a powerful position to prevent Russia from continuing to use athletes as a tool for foreign policy. This has been a consistent tactic of Russian authorities and will almost certainly prevail if given the opportunity to utilise athletes once more.

In using the Olympic Games to advance its geopolitical agenda in the lead-up to the invasion of Ukraine, Russia made sport a theater of this war. Russia used the 2022 Beijing Olympics, on the eve of the invasion, to strengthen its relationship with China.

In 2014, Russia similarly used a home Olympics in Sochi and a state sponsored doping program to bolster its international standing before annexing Crimea.

Russia has also used its athletes, both before and during the war, in state propaganda and has elevated athletes to high-ranking positions in the armed forces.

Russia has proven time and time again that athletes are an integral part of its foreign policy.

If Russian athletes are allowed to return to international competition, the Russian state will again use the athletes to bolster the war effort and distract from the atrocities in Ukraine.
Additionally, with the IOC announcing last week the adoption of the Strategic Framework on Human Rights, they cannot negate the reality that the brutal, unprovoked invasion by Russia and Belarus on a peaceful Ukrainian nation is a clear breach of Human Rights and a violation of the Olympic Charter.

Furthermore, allowing Russian and Belarusian sport officials and executives to hold positions in international sport provides untethered access to influence decision making to ease restrictions on both countries.

We recognize the acute affect that banning Russian and Belarusian athletes will have on their lives and pursuit of performance on the world stage. Athletes are not the powerbrokers who are responsible for this war. This is a hard stance with real human cost. However, the decision to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes far outweigh the reasons for terminating a ban.

It is a difficult but an important task to maintain the suspension of both Russian and Belarusian athletes and their sporting officials from all international sporting events until Russia fully withdraws from Ukraine. The IOC holds significant responsibility to ensure that international sport is not a stage for Russian foreign policy and must enact on this clear breach of Human Rights and the Olympic Charter.

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