MOSCOW, Mar 14 Deputy board member of the Norwegian Olympic Committee (NIF) Eivind Vatterdahl left his post in protest against sanctions against Russian and Belarusian athletes. At the end of February, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that international sports federations prevent Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in international competitions due to the situation around Russia and Ukraine. A number of international federations excluded Russians and Belarusians from competitions under their auspices, in particular, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) banned them from participating in the Beijing Paralympics. Other federations have allowed athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete in a neutral status. «The decision (to withdraw) was made on the basis of the NIF's call to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in competitions,» Vatterdahl wrote in his letter to the board members, the text of which is quoted by NRK. — This the decision is in stark contrast to my values and ideas of what sport should be, so I decided that I don't want to represent or be associated with this decision,» Waterdahl said. «I don't have any expectations that this will lead to anything , but I do it for reasons of conscience, to stand up for my colleagues and be able to stand and look them in the eye. I don’t want to mix politics and sports, there are probably others who think that there is a lot of politics in sports, «added Waterdal.
