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On Thursday, a meeting of the executive committee of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) was held, from which many were waiting for recommendations on regarding the participation or non-participation of Russians in the Paris Games 2024. To the surprise of many, the OCD has not even considered this issue and, apparently, has no intention of doing so. Sports correspondent explains why.
The eternal Shakespearean question, as applied to Russian sports reality, now sounds like this: to go or not to go? It has been standing since December 2023, when the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. But in a neutral status and with a lot of conditions and reservations. Which completely deprive the athlete who decides to go to the Olympics of any connection with his country. He will have neither a flag, nor an anthem, nor a uniform in the French capital. All that remains is your first name, last name and passport — and even that must be in your pocket, since the display of Russian symbols at the Games will be prohibited.
The fact that the conditions imposed by the IOC are discriminatory is recognized even by those who advocate that every athlete should have the opportunity to realize their Olympic dream. And that only the athlete himself can decide for himself whether he is ready to be at the Games in the Olympic family in the position of a poor relative who will not even be able to dress the way he wants (according to the document with the conditions for the performance of neutral athletes at the Olympics, they must have be white or plain uniform).
But even if you are ready, a lot of related questions arise to which there is no answer yet. For example: can a neutral athlete compete in Russia after the Olympics — be it international (Friendship Games) or domestic? Documents on the IOC website say that for violating the terms of performance in Paris, an athlete can be punished after the fact — up to the cancellation of the result. But the specifics are not written there. And for clarifying questions, the IOC press service suggests… reading the documents on the IOC website. And it turns out to be a vicious circle.
The topic of money is, of course, important for athletes, except, perhaps, for tennis players who earn money on professional tours. The rest are funded by the state, and under the terms of the IOC this is prohibited. Let's say an athlete withdraws from the bet at the Sports Training Center and goes to the Olympics — and then what? Should he continue to train at his own expense or will he still be allowed to return to the standard framework of the Russian sports system? There is no answer either.
So it turns out that at the moment neither the ROC nor the Ministry of Sports can give direct recommendations to Russian athletes on participation or non-participation in the Olympics. There are too many unknowns. And the responsibility for the spoken word is high — after all, what is at stake is not just the athlete’s career in Russia, but also, as ROC President Stanislav Pozdnyakov noted, legal consequences. Yes, the currently published document, which each Olympic participant will have to sign, does not threaten anything, but it is quite possible that Russians will be asked to sign additional declarations. And there will already be written something that in their homeland will not be perceived as a formality.
There is another reason why the ROC did not discuss the issue of recommendations to Russian athletes. “From the point of view of our lawyers and according to the charter, the ROC is responsible for the interests of the Russian Olympic team. Neutral athletes do not fall under this concept. I doubt that we will discuss this issue at the official level,” Pozdnyakov noted after the meeting of the ROC executive committee.
It is worth paying attention to the wording of the instructions that the president of the country gave to the Ministry of Sports and the ROC. And it doesn’t sound like “recommend” or “not recommend”, but “develop proposals” regarding the participation of Russian athletes in the Olympics. And this is a completely different topic. You can, for example, invite athletes to carefully read the documents that they will sign on their Olympic path. Or this: suggest that when searching for an answer to the question of whether to go or not, think with your own head. Which, in fact, is what you have to do. Not only suggestions, but also recommendations, you couldn’t imagine better.