In addition to many more important problems, the war in Ukraine led the world of sports to take a difficult position on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in future competitions of international level.
In addition to the decision to eliminate all sporting events scheduled in the coming months in Russian territory, it has also arrived the decision of the IOC, in its historical way, to recommend to the individual federations of do not let Russian athletes compete (and Belarusians) in international competitions underway in recent months.
Being a recommendation, the individual federations have the possibility to choose independently how to handle the case, thorny to say the least, even if most of them have already aligned themselves with the opinion of the highest supranational sports body.
So let's go and see what are the possible reasons for an exclusion or less of Russian athletes, always bearing in mind that the question is extremely complicated and delicate, there are no precedents and that only a too simplistic vision can foresee a totally right and a totally wrong way.
Exclusion: the reasons for yes
- Stopping a war without using force itself is very difficult. The Western line is that of sanctions and in this context, even if not explicitly indicated in the sanctions themselves, the ban on Russian athletes from participating in international competitions is part of the unwritten "cultural" sanctions. If this can help stop a war then one may be willing to pay the high ideological price behind this decision.
- Ukrainian athletes, since the war persists on their territory and they have been called to general mobilization, they cannot at this moment take part in international competitions in spite of themselves. For a principle of fairness, also recalled by the IOC in its decision, then even Russian athletes, since the state that triggered this conflict, must not be able to participate in the same events.
- La Olympic truce starts one week before the start of the Olympic games and ends one week after the close of the Paralympic games, summer or winter makes no difference. Break the Olympic truce by unleashing a war it is a conceptually very serious act and therefore Russia and its athletes are liable to exemplary punishment. The Olympic Truce is not a new or Western concept but is rooted within the Olympic Games since their inception in antiquity (776 BC) and is one of those symbolic aspects that make the Olympic Games so special.
- Another factor that should not be underestimated is the safety to be guaranteed for athletes when organizing an international sporting event. With the current situation it is difficult to be sure that some spectators cannot become terrible protagonists of deplorable acts of retaliation against Russian athletes during the events. To avoid unpleasant and dangerous attacks on Russian athletes then it is better not to allow them to participate, especially for less noble and less "rich" sports that cannot afford massive security measures.
Exclusion: the reasons for the no
- Exclude athletes for the country of origin only it is an act of strong discrimination which is not at all suited to a context such as sports which usually stands out for tolerance, equality and mutual respect and in which encounters and points of contact that are impossible in other areas are made possible. A state cannot be accused of the faults of its individual citizens just as the citizens of a state cannot be accused of the faults of the state itself. Therefore, making individual Russian athletes pay the price of their government's choice to wage a war is not fair to them, also because athletes cannot necessarily be considered in agreement with the government's choice and therefore punishable.
- The war in Ukraine unfortunately it is not the first and it will not be the last of mankind. With the exclusion of Russian athletes, a dangerous precedent is created that has no equal in history. On no occasion of war or past invasion have the athletes of the country guilty of the attack been excluded from sports competitions even by decision of the IOC. Having said that every conflict should be analyzed in depth before being able to make decisions of this magnitude, at least symbolic, and avoid extreme trivializations that aim to put many different events all on the same level, we now risk seeing the same treatment also for future conflicts when instead the world of sport should be the first to be open to dialogue and inclusion.
- With fewer athletes, sporting events lose value, of appeal and consequently of income They remain, so to speak, incomplete when not all prestigious athletes have been able to participate. An event is all the more important and a victory all the heavier if the athletes participating in it are of a high level. Clearly this is especially true for sports in which the Russians excel. How can it ever be the same to win a world championship in figure skating without competing against athletes from the Russian federation?
Rich sports and poor sports
When it comes to team sports at national level it is easy to eliminate Russia and Belarus from competitions as in this case there is a unique identification between the team and the nation. Also eliminate the clubs belonging to these countries it is coherently included in the global sanction plan.
The behavior towards individual Russian athletes is more difficult. In "rich" sports (such as football, basketball, ice hockey, tennis, volleyball and cycling just to name those where there is a greater presence of Russian weight athletes), probably Russian players (single or belonging to non-Russian clubs) will be able to continue playing as these sports can afford the aforementioned safety measures. Furthermore, the athletes of these sports are immersed in Western culture and are also those who (see Medvedev) can take a stand more freely against the current situation and possibly their own government as they do not live in Russia and their salary does not come from Russia.
Other less famous sports and with a less important turnover (for example all winter disciplines) where athletes even in events other than the Olympics and world championships compete under the flag of their country and not of a club, will probably choose or they have already chosen the path of exclusion.
For Russian athletes in this situation it is more difficult to express their possible dissent to the line of their government since they live in Russia, are salaried by Russia and in some cases are also part of Russian military bodies for which expressing their opposition would not only be inconvenient but also unsustainable and dangerous (and not everyone understandably wants to be a hero).
Ultimately in this difficult situation the decisions are complex and probably for a long time, regardless of the outcome of the conflict itself, differences and inconsistencies will be dragged into the world of sport.
Having said that there are different opinions on the ways of treating Russian athletes, all understandable if well argued, we hope that every speech can be based on two incontrovertible facts for everyone: no one would want to exclude athletes from competitions and, above all, no one wants a war.
Article Sport and War. Yes and No of the exclusion of Russia From Sports born.
