Author: Cozmin Gușă
The world competitions in the Olympic Sports have been held in the last year without the participation of the Russian and Belarussian athletes, the international sports federations thus respecting the recommendation of the International Olympic Committee, which aimed to exclude them from the competitions, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Russians and Belarussians respected without protest. The possible incidents generated by the planetary emotion related to the war, and thus have imposed on the Olympic teams in the last year programs of training camps, with various possibilities of friendly sports competitions, of the Russia-Belarus type, or with other lots of athletes from countries that have risked the oppression by accepting the invitations from Moscow or Minsk.
I have said it several times, and I repeat it now, the decision of the IOC was an excessive, unfair decision, which violates the principles enshrined in the ” Olympic Charter ”, risks affecting the spirit of sports competitions and generates a precedent that can always be invoked in the future for the banning of athletes and from other countries that will be in this situation in the following decades. Zelenskiy’s regime imposed terror among Ukrainian athletes and coaches, who were forced to sign and issue public statements calling for the elimination of Russian and Belarussian competitors, and whoever refused was eliminated from sports or punished in various ways, which if you knew, you would be terrified. I know these things directly, I have friends and collaborators among sports representatives from all three countries, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and this absurd and unfair situation, along with the terror involved, has been discussed in all the international meetings I have attended in the last year.
Towards the end of last year, under the pressure of the heads of international or national sports federations, Thomas Bach, the president of the IOC, took the horned bull and hypothesized the reintroduction of the permission to participate in competitions of the Russian and Belarussian athletes from 2023 (without the possibility of competing with the national marks), thus respecting the “Olympic Charter”, which specifically provides for the non-discrimination of competitors from regimes subject to international political sanctions. The Olympic Movement received consistent public support from the President of France, who said salutingly that he did not conceive that the Paris Olympics should take place without the participation of the champions of the two countries targeted by sanctions, which generated the protests of the Zelenskiy regime, which threatens that Ukraine will be the Olympian. Yesterday, also from Paris, Marius Vizer, the president of the International Judo Federation (IJF), reiterated the great and beneficial role of sport precisely for peace, unity and normality in the world: ” (…) “War and politics cannot divide sport and cannot divide us. Sport and religion bring to the most important values of society. It is the last bridge, which today, in the confrontations of the world, can be a messenger for peace and unity and can work for reconciliation. I wish that judo always be a symbol of peace, a symbol of unity, solidarity and friendship in the world.” (Stiripesurse) The reply came immediately from Zelenskiy, who, having no arguments that can be taken into account by respecting the Olympic Charter, resorted to pressure / blackmail actions on the companies that finance the Olympic sport, sending letters to their owners, asking them to suspend the financing, in case the ICO decides to allow participation in competitions from Russians and Belarussians: “Ukraine has sent appropriate letters to companies that provide the most support to the International Olympic Committee,” Zelenski said in his Sunday night video speech. “These are large international companies that clearly have an interest in ensuring that their reputation and support are not used for war propaganda.” (Stiripesurse) This time, however, Zelenskiy no longer benefits from US public support, three days ago the following statement was recorded: ” The United States spoke on Thursday in favor of the participation of Russian and Belarussian athletes in the Olympic Games, under a neutral flag and without national emblems, relaunching a debate that is about 20 from Paris, informs AFP. If athletes are invited to an international sports event, such as the Olympics, “it must be absolutely clear that they do not represent Russian or Belarusian states,” said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.
You can thus expect that the situation will get worse in the next couple of days, because in spite of the political-athletic efforts of reintroducing normality in world sports, you should know that many of the owners of the companies that finance the IOC are the same as those who sponsor the war in Ukraine, while benefiting from the sale of weapons or the future investments of reconstruction of the Ukrainian space. When analyzing the situation, do not forget the past sufferings of the athletes and their supporters during the period of communism and Cold War, when we all suffered due to some decisions that are just as absurd, when great champions, who’ve proved how we can overcome our limits through will, effort and intelligence, were persecuted, eliminated or condemned on the basis of subhuman political games, similar to those that Zelenskiy will practice now.
So let us advocate for normality, because sport is about fairness and performance, obtained under conditions of free competition, peace, fair play and, finally, friendship between the representatives of different nations!
