On Friday, the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Athletes' Commission called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to refuse from discriminatory practices and ensure the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in international competitions without additional restrictions and on the basis of equality. Correspondent — about whether this brings Russian sports closer to refusing to play by the rules imposed from outside.
A «series of consultations» continued for exactly a month, which, according to the statement, the ROC Athletes' Commission conducted with the Russian community as part of a detailed discussion of the IOC recommendations on the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international tournaments in a neutral status. After this time, the commission called the admission criteria «excessive, unreasonable and discriminatory» in terms of nationality and passport, discipline and sport, as well as «belonging to one or another structure that has been developing sports for decades in many post-Soviet states.»
This refers, of course, to belonging to the sports clubs CSKA, Dynamo and the National Guard, which fit the phrase «contract with the armed forces and security services.» Coincidence or not, but on Friday in the MIA «Russia Today» a press conference was held by the leadership of the International Council for Military Sports (CISM), which holds world championships among military personnel. This organization has no claims against Russian and Belarusian athletes, and our army team is currently preparing to compete in four international tournaments. br>
Returning to the statement of the ROC Athletes' Commission — it states that a dangerous precedent has been set in which no athlete in the world can henceforth be sure that his civil rights will be properly respected manner, and all decisions are made in strict accordance with the law and the Olympic Charter without exception.
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“Today we are forced to live and work according to new rules, to go through a humiliating sorting on discriminatory conditions,” apparently, it was no longer possible to find harsher words for an official statement. “This is actively promoted by individual states and speakers who openly blackmail the IOC with their radical statements and action.»
In conclusion, the ROC Athletes' Commission demanded an end to discriminatory practices under the leadership of the IOC
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«We are convinced that the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in international competitions should be implemented only on the basis of equality with all other participants in the Olympic movement, without additional conditions, prescriptions, restrictions and criteria that destroy the Olympic movement and devalue the letter and spirit of the Olympic Charter» , — summarizes the document.
It is worth recalling that earlier the head of the ROC, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, commented on the recommendations of the IOC in approximately the same intonation.
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“We are now aware that discrimination based on nationality has been supplemented by discrimination based on the type of activity, departmental affiliation to socially significant and sports organizations, discrimination by sports has been added. Today, those unfair and legally insignificant conditions are in force, and we believe that this is the arbitrariness of the IOC, we will certainly seek to change these conditions,» is, for example, his statement at the III National Athletes' Forum in Minsk.
A similar statement a month ago, immediately after the IOC Executive Committee, was issued by the press service of the Russian Ministry of Sports.
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«The recommendations of the IOC to classify Russian athletes are unlawful, and a separate decision on team sports is openly discriminatory. Our athletes are offered to enter an ajar door, while creating additional obstacles. Athletes have been training hard for years in order to compete according to fair rules and in a fair fight to assert the true principles of sports , uniting and giving joy and pride to millions of people. This is their work, their life. It is inhumane to deprive them of this right, «- this is a quote from the Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation Oleg Matytsin.
Well, now the Commission of ROC athletes made the same words, in which, by the way, active athletes are a minority. It is easy to see that these declarations have a lot in common. But the most important thing in common is what is missing in these documents. Namely, there is no direct refusal to follow the recommendations of the IOC. Despite all the harsh words, no one declares unequivocally that we will not obey discriminatory criteria. Everywhere — only calls to abandon them.
Why is a delicate question, here it is necessary to select the most delicate formulations. It is worth recalling that at present, in a number of sports, Russian athletes compete in international tournaments precisely in a neutral status. The most striking example is tennis, where Daniil Medvedev, Andrei Rublev, Karen Khachanov, Daria Kasatkina play and win international tournaments every week, not paying attention to the fact that their names are no longer on the official websites of the Association of Tennis Professionals and the Women's Tennis Association the flag of their country. At the same time, they continue to be listed in the Russian national team, which can be easily verified from the document on the official website of the Russian Tennis Federation.Something tells us that if, conditionally, tomorrow one of the leaders of Russian sports declares the inadmissibility of playing under a neutral flag, all the above-mentioned racket masters will not pay any attention to him and will continue to earn money on money competitions. There is no doubt that there will be other athletes who will not agree to follow the «common position». First of all, from among those who play in various professional leagues, and there will be athletes with big names. And this is already a scandal, which at the present time is categorically impossible to allow.
It is clear that at present, negotiations are underway between Russian sports structures, the IOC and international federations on a specific form of participation in competitions. And the results are visible in some places — for example, in some sports they have already announced their readiness to return Russians and Belarusians to the international arena. Fencing, wrestling, taekwondo, table tennis, modern pentathlon. The conditions have not yet been specified in any federation — but there is an assumption that many of them will not chop off the shoulder, cutting off from the competition, for example, athletes from CSKA on purely formal affiliation to the club.
Negotiations must go on in silence is a rule known from many statements by politicians. The current situation in world sports is the same policy, subject to similar laws. So, despite all the loud declarations, you can be sure that the silence regime has not been violated and there is no boycott on our part yet. What follows, for example, from today's statement by the press secretary of the head of the Russian state, Dmitry Peskov:
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“As for the IOC recommendation, yes, it is being analyzed now, our approaches, our positions are being developed.” We can only hope that this process will lead to a compromise.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.