On Tuesday, the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in international competitions in a neutral status, which athletes will receive according to a number of strict criteria. Correspondent Sport — about why this decision cannot suit either Russian and Belarusian athletes, or opponents of their return.
So, the IOC officially canceled the «protective measures» that it called the recommendation not to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in international competitions. Published the criteria by which athletes will be able to receive neutral status and participate in tournaments. For the 1500th time, IOC President Thomas Bach repeated theses about the unifying power of sport and the inadmissibility of discrimination on the basis of a particular passport.
But joy is far away. For starters, the federations are not at all obliged to follow the instructions from Lausanne. The World Athletics Association (World Athletics) a week ago sent the IOC in advance to hell, removing the Russians and Belarusians «for the foreseeable future» (official wording), and Bach will not be able to do anything about it: the exclusive right to allow or not to allow athletes to compete belongs to sports federations . World Athletics, led by the British Lord Sebastian Coe, is one of the most hostile federations towards Russia.
The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) and the International Biathlon Union (IBU) with their hostile Scandinavian lobby are asking to join her company. Judging by the news leaked from these organizations, neither our skiers nor our biathletes can be expected to return soon. Well, without any leaking news: the Russian teams in team sports will also continue to sit at home. Their IOC did not recommend allowing them to compete. Rather, the question arises here — will the same Asian teams that the Russian national football team have met in recent months refuse further matches with us?
There are federations much more accommodating. The same fencing, wrestling, modern pentathlon, shooting — in other words, free from the dominance of «unfriendly countries». But there is another problem: the new IOC recommendations clearly state that athletes who have contracts with the armed forces and security agencies cannot apply for neutral status. It turns out that in the above-mentioned sports — and in many others, where the leading Russian athletes represent CSKA, Dynamo or the Russian Guard — only the third tier will be able to go to international competitions, which, of course, will not be selected for the Olympics.
The main problem with the IOC recommendations and eligibility criteria is that they seem to be specially written in such a way as to minimize the number of applicants for neutral status and generally discourage them from any desire to mess with it. Are there many who want to «refrain from any activities or communications related to the national flag, anthem, coat of arms or other symbol of Russia, including interviews and social networks — retweets, reposts, and so on,» including at domestic Russian competitions? And if you were filmed by a camera against the background of a billboard or a poster with the emblem of the federation — that's it, there is no neutral status? If you follow the provisions of the five-page document with the criteria, no.
“Today’s decision of the IOC Executive Board is regarded as an acknowledgment of our own mistake of February 28 last year. The IOC has actually admitted the fallacy of its actions a year ago. Now the IOC recommendations that have been in force for more than a year have been disavowed,” said Head of the Russian Olympic Committee Stanislav Pozdnyakov.
But the fact is that the IOC is very likely making an even bigger mistake by issuing a whole series of new discriminatory recommendations. The IOC could still explain the total suspension by «protective measures» — so that, they say, no one would offend the Russians and Belarusians themselves. Stupidity, but the basis for the decision was summed up. Under the current recommendations, absolutely nothing can be summed up, except for the very discrimination that Bach spoke about the inadmissibility of all the last months. Even if you do not discuss the requirement, in fact, forget that you have a country that raised you — how else can you call inadmissibility due to club affiliation or on the basis of playing a team sport?
It is obvious that the IOC, in adopting the new recommendations, tried to mitigate the effect of the discontent of the radical opponents of the return of athletes from Russia and Belarus to the international arena as much as possible. But it is already clear: this did not work. There are still a lot of threats to boycott tournaments with our athletes in the world: the same Ukraine, the countries of Eastern Europe …
But pay attention: there is no screaming from America not to allow Russian athletes. Because, let's be objective, this is also a great sports power, which, despite all the contradictions, wants to compete with its equals. And the little mutts who used to get the crumbs from the division of a large sports pie, of course, are happy to cling to it. The opportunity to pick up easy medals, and not «personal dislike, such that I can not eat» — that's the reason for their protests against our return. That is why they declare almost weekly that they do not want to see the Russians at tournaments, they continue to procrastinate the same theses, not hearing any reasonable arguments. And their stubbornness proves that it's not about politics at all.
Of course, Bach can be understood when he says that it is simply impossible to find a solution that would suit everyone in the current situation. But at the same time, he seems to forget that his organization itself created this situation. «Why can Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian athletes play in the same tennis tournaments, but cannot compete in the pool?» Bach asks. It's very simple — because the professional tennis associations of the IOC initially did not have a decree, and they immediately declared: we will not deprive the right to work on a national basis. If you want to boycott — for God's sake, lose your own money. And the federations dependent on the IOC obeyed, even those where there was absolutely melancholy without Russian athletes. And now they are disentangling.
Now the IOC itself has felt the risk of losing money. This organization, which has been utterly commercialized in recent decades, definitely thinks about not lofty matters when it sees that in many sports without Russia it is a swamp. Competitions without competition are not interesting for advertisers. But an attempt to correct a mistake in exactly this way, which the common people call «both ours and yours» — or even a more rude saying about a fish — is fraught. It is impossible, as practice shows in absolutely all life situations, to try to sit on two chairs. Actually, the IOC has not succeeded in this — there are no and cannot be satisfied with his new recommendations.