The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is tired from endless threats from the leaders of Ukrainian sports and said that the boycott would harm them, not world sport. Looks like Ukrainian blackmail has failed.
What did the Ukrainians hope for? The recommendations of the IOC on the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in international competitions, announced at the executive committee of the organization in Lausanne, further divided the world into two parts. IOC chief Thomas Bach wanted to please everyone, but predictably pleased no one. In Russia, the demands were considered humiliating, and in the West they were indignant that the issue of the return of our athletes was considered at all.
Most of all discontent was, of course, in Ukraine. On Friday, March 31, Minister of the Ukrainian government, member of the executive committee of the National Olympic Committee Oleg Nemchinov said that the government of the country had decided to ban Ukrainian athletes from participating in qualifying competitions for the 2024 Olympic Games, in which Russian athletes would take part.
Obviously, in Ukraine they hoped that the IOC would accept their position and take the boycott threats seriously. However, they thought about it and decided that world sport would lose much more without Russia than without Ukraine. And they even posted a response that explained everything clearly.
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“This will only harm the Ukrainian sports community and will in no way affect the cessation of hostilities that the IOC so vehemently condemns. We have always argued that governments should not decide which athletes can compete in international competitions. If implemented, such a decision would also contradict the position of some Ukrainian athletes and other members of the Olympic community. A number of Ukrainian athletes have already declared that they oppose boycotts,” the IOC said in a statement.
What the IOC can doFrom this statement, we learned that not all Ukrainian athletes support the rhetoric of sports leadership. However, one should not be surprised here. After all, they, and not officials, will suffer from such insane actions in the first place. Money, prospects, Olympic dreams will be lost.
It is extremely curious to see what the Ministry of Sports of Ukraine and the National Olympic Committee of the country will do now. They obviously did not expect such a harsh and negative response from the IOC and are unlikely to be ready to respond immediately.
It would be naive to believe that now all the doors to international competitions will open for Russia. The situation is still extremely complex and ambiguous. The recommendations of the IOC now look weakly feasible. Nevertheless, we must say a big thank you to the Ukrainian side, which is doing everything to ensure that these recommendations are revised in our direction. Bach is clearly tired of endless threats and instructions. Everything can end up with the fact that it will be easier to remove Ukraine from world sports than to look for compromises on the admission of Russia.