On Wednesday, the sports world continued to have a heated discussion of the criteria that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that sports federations take as a basis in determining which of the Russian and Belarusian athletes can receive a neutral status to participate in competitions. One of the most discriminatory is belonging to sports clubs associated with the army and law enforcement agencies.
There are a huge number of representatives of CSKA and Dynamo in Russian sports. Most of the medals of the Russian team at the Olympic Games in Tokyo were won by them. It is safe to say that few of the army or Dynamo athletes are in any real way connected with the Armed Forces or the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But the IOC doesn't care. In their opinion, if an athlete is under contract with the army or power units, then he supports the NWO. And the IOC does not want to see such people in the international arena.
It is worth reiterating that, technically, the IOC only makes recommendations. International sports federations may not follow them, which, for example, the World Athletics Association (World Athletics) did a week ago, and on Wednesday the International Biathlon Union (IBU). They see no reason to return Russian and Belarusian athletes to the international arena. There will probably be other unfriendly federations.But, of course, there will be those federations that will take the recommendations of the IOC as a basis and create independent panels to determine athletes who qualify for the conditions of neutral status. And in these conditions there are many uncertainties, including regarding the criterion of belonging to army structures. The fact that this is discrimination, no extra words are required. In the same Germany and Italy, there are enough leading athletes from army clubs, but no one closes their entrance to competitions, although these countries are also involved in military operations.
However, such a criterion is prescribed, and there are technical questions about its application. For example, and it came to the mind of a lot of people: what if the athlete leaves CSKA or Dynamo so as not to be associated with the army and law enforcement agencies at the time of consideration of his application? Is he considered to support the special operation?
This question was asked to IOC spokesman Mark Adams at a press conference following the second day of the Executive Committee. It turned out that the international committee itself did not know the answer — or left the question open. “All I can say is that we must decide this in a timely manner,” Adams stated. “As you remember, it is not the IOC that determines who is eligible and who is not, it is the prerogative of the international federations. We recommend making such decisions to independent panels. In addition, about the recommendations was announced just yesterday, we are still working on the details.» That is, he did not clearly declare that any affiliation to clubs associated with law enforcement agencies, whether current or retrospective, is a sentence for the IOC.
This topic is being discussed in Russia as well. True, it's more behind the scenes for the time being — most of the heads of sports federations remain silent, apparently waiting for «where the wind will blow» in the highest echelons of the Russian sports authorities. In the same place, for the time being, I beg your pardon, the wind is no longer blowing, but, in journalistic terms, water is pouring. Both ROC head Stanislav Pozdnyakov and Russian sports minister Oleg Matytsin condemned the IOC's proposed recommendations as discriminatory, but did not state any specifics about whether the Russian side was going to implement them. Apparently, this is an issue that will be discussed with representatives of not the sports, but the state authorities. public words — President of the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) Viktor Maygurov.
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«Biathletes can go to dismissal from law enforcement agencies, but only if this is the only obstacle,» — he said on Wednesday and instantly ran into criticism from opponents.
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«I don't understand what Maygurov had in mind. For athletes to quit means to lose their salary. And how can they return, given that many of them are servicemen and even officers?» — stated two-time Olympic biathlon champion Dmitry Vasiliev.
Four-time Olympic champion Alexander Tikhonov echoes him:
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“I don’t know how a possible dismissal from the Armed Forces will legally take place, but we don’t have to accept any conditions. others».
Well, and, perhaps, the main thing is the moral side of the issue. How ethical is it to talk about whether to leave the army or not, to leave CSKA or not, in the most difficult period that the country is going through?
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“Now, out of the corner of my ear, I heard that Maigurov said that biathletes can leave law enforcement agencies. I don’t know if there is a reasonable grain in this, but imagine that everyone quits and goes in a neutral status, then it turns out they don’t support our president and that’s all what is happening,” said Olympic champion in cross-country skiing Alexander Legkov.
Probably, the issue will still be discussed at all levels, as they say, including party and the IOC. In general, neither we nor they have any clarity on how the IOC recommendations will work. With caution, only one thing can be said: perhaps the road to international competitions for representatives of the army and Dynamo clubs will not be closed. But this will happen only if the IOC, and after it the international federations, take a course on common sense. Given that supporters of turning on the brains in world sports have become less and less lately, there is little hope, but there is.