On Thursday, the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in On the eve of the session in Mumbai (India), the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) was suspended until further notice for accepting four new Russian regions into membership of the Olympic Councils — the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. Sport correspondent talks about how such a step will affect the future of Russia in the Olympic movement.
The decision to accept the Olympic councils of four new regions as members was officially announced at a meeting of the executive committee of the Russian Olympic Committee on October 5. It took the International Olympic Committee only a week to respond. On Thursday — on the very first day of work ahead of the organization's session in Mumbai — the IOC executive committee suspended the ROC «until further notice» for «violation of the Olympic Charter.»
What will be said in the next few sentences is a pure statement of fact: there is no doubt that previous IOC decisions on sanctions against Russian sports were politically motivated and discriminatory, but in this particular case the actions of the IOC Executive Committee were actually programmed. Currently, the ownership of the new four regions of Russia is recognized by only two UN members: the DPRK and Syria. One could hardly expect that the IOC would join these countries and approve the actions of the Russian Olympic Committee. It can be assumed that they had no doubt about the sanctions against them and about the ROC itself.
After the decision of the IOC Executive Committee, several questions regarding the immediate and long-term prospects for our country’s participation in the Olympic movement become key. The first of them is this: is it still worth hoping for Russian athletes to perform at next year’s Olympic Games in Paris under their own flag? The answer is clear — no. If earlier the International Olympic Committee could still point out the fact that the ROC, being not subject to any sanctions, did not receive an official invitation to the Games, now the IOC has a documented justification. As Bulgakov's hero said, a factual piece of paper. Armor. It is possible, of course, that the ROC will be able to successfully challenge the IOC decision in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but in the current conditions we can hardly count on this.
Moreover, at a number of subsequent Olympics, Russian athletes are unlikely to be able to compete under their own flag, since “special notification” will obviously not follow soon. I don’t really want to play “be the president of the IOC,” but I can’t imagine restoring the ROC without canceling the decision to admit four new regions to membership or their wide international recognition. The first will not happen by definition, because these regions are now Russian; as they say, we would like to live to see the second.
The second question: will the decision of the IOC Executive Committee affect the participation of Russians in the Paris Olympics in a neutral status? The International Olympic Committee has already assured that in no way, but in parallel at a briefing on Thursday, a very important phrase was heard from IOC Communications Director Mark Adams — a decision on the participation of neutral athletes in the Games should be expected “shortly” before they begin.
It's clear why this is important. Do not forget that qualifications for the 2024 Olympics are in full swing, and in a number of sports Russians still do not compete in any status — neither full nor neutral. Many international federations, like the IOC, are playing for time. And the purpose of this appears to be to minimize even the theoretical number of Russian athletes who will be able to get to Paris. In Russia there is a gloomy saying — “no person, no problem.” To paraphrase it for the IOC, we can say this: no Olympian, no problem. The fewer Russian participants there are at the Olympics, the less likely there are any demonstrative acts against them, such as not shaking hands. For the IOC, in general, it would be an ideal option for only Russian tennis players to come to Paris — in this sport the mechanism for their participation in international tournaments can be considered well-functioning.
Finally, the third question is the functioning of the ROC itself and, in particular , financial component. The IOC will not transfer funds to him during the suspension, but this is unlikely to cause significant difficulties. It has been repeatedly reported that the majority of the budget of the Russian Olympic Committee is provided by its national sponsors, cooperation with which continues. However, there are problems here too, this was discussed not so long ago. But the ROC is financially secure in its main areas of activity.
Well, everything else is quite difficult to predict. One thing is clear: deep, fundamental changes are taking place in the world, and sport has not been left out. What they will lead to — time, as they say, will tell.