Russia sports
final in men’s soccer and the Russian Grand Prix in Formula One. After four days, the IOC recommended excluding Russian and Belarusian athletes from events “to protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants.”
The Russian men’s national soccer team was in the World Cup playoffs at the time, hoping to qualify for last year’s tournament in Qatar, but Poland refused to play them. Russia was then excluded from the competition—four years after hosting the 2018 tournament and reaching the quarterfinals.
As the Paris Olympics come into view, the IOC has shifted its emphasis to what it says is its duty to avoid discriminating against anyone based on nationality, and to create a path for Russians and Belarusians to compete as neutral athletes without national symbols. Safety concerns might be avoided, the IOC says, if Russia and Belarus were to compete in events in Asia, including Olympic qualifiers at the Asian Games in China.
The IOC points to tennis, where the men’s and women’s professional tours have allowed individual Russians and Belarusians to compete without national symbols. Belarusian player Aryna Sabalenka won the Australian Open last month. Even in tennis, though, Russia and Belarus are excluded from national team competitions like the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup, and they were also barred from playing in last year’s Wimbledon tournament.
Russia and its athletes have been at risk of being banned at each Olympics since the steroid-tainted 2014 Sochi Winter Games. Previously, it was because of Russian state-backed doping and then the country’s attempt to cover up evidence of that scandal.
Ukraine is fiercely opposed to allowing Russians back into world sports, and especially next year’s Olympics. Ukraine says more than 220 of its athletes have been killed in the war, and hundreds of sports facilities lie in ruins. It points to precedents like the exclusion of Germany and Japan from the 1948 Olympics following World War II.
“If, God forbid, the Olympic principles are destroyed and Russian athletes are allowed to participate in any competitions or the Olympic Games, it’s just a matter of time before the terrorist state forces them to play along with the war propaganda,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told a summit of sports ministers and officials from more than 30 countries this month.
That summit produced a joint declaration full of skepticism for how the IOC’s proposed neutral process could work, with particular concern about whether the many Russian athletes with ties to the military could compete. The IOC said Tuesday it found those questions “constructive” but that the nations did not address its concerns about possible discrimination.
The clock is ticking for the IOC to find a solution for Russian and Belarusian athletes to have the opportunity to qualify for the Olympics. Qualifying has already begun in many sports and will start soon in others.
While Russians have been largely excluded over the last year, Ukraine’s athletes have had some notable successes on the world stage. Oleksandr Usyk, who took up arms in defense of Ukraine shortly after the invasion, returned to boxing and defended his heavyweight title against Anthony Joshua in August. High jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh won a world championship silver medal in Oregon and Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk won the European triple jump title.
The Ukrainain men’s soccer league resumed in August—with some games interrupted by air-raid warnings—and Shakhtar Donetsk held its own in the group stage of the Champions League with a win over German club Leipzig and a draw against Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid.
In a statement Wednesday marking the one-year anniversary of the invasion, the IOC didn’t mention its efforts to reintegrate Russia and Belarus, but said the Olympics could promote “peaceful competition” between athletes from the likes of North and South Korea, or Israel and Palestine.
“Peace-building efforts need dialogue,” the IOC said. “A competition with athletes who respect the Olympic Charter can serve as a catalyst for dialogue, which is always a first step to achieving peace.”
ATLANTA — Atlanta Hawks general manager Landry Fields said Wednesday former Utah coach Quin Snyder is among those being considered to replace Nate McMillan.
The Hawks (29-30) fired McMillan on Tuesday. Fields stressed that Atlanta’s eighth-place standing in the Eastern Conference is not acceptable for a team that advanced to the conference finals in 2021.
Snyder, 56, was 372-264 as Utah’s coach from 201422. He guided the Jazz to six consecutive playoff appearances before stepping down after last season.
Fields said Snyder’s availability “is a factor in the sense that I feel comfortable mentioning his name, but there are other candidates I don’t want to mention because they are a part of other teams.”
Snyder was a Hawks assistant in 2013-14.
Other possible candidates include Golden State assistant Kenny Atkinson and Milwaukee assistant Charles Lee, both former Atlanta assistants.
Fields said he has started talking with potential candidates and could make a hire this season. Assistant coach Joe Prunty began serving as interim coach at practice Wednesday but may not be involved in the interview process for the full-time position.
“To do this now, sort of last minute, there’s enough on Joe’s plate,” Fields said, adding that his message to Prunty is “just focus on the task at hand and we’ll cover everything else later.”
McMillan, 58, went 9980 as Atlanta’s coach, including a 27-11 record as interim in the second half of the 2020-21 season. His success that season in leading Atlanta to the Eastern Conference finals earned him the full-time position.
The Hawks are hoping for a similar late-season revival under Prunty, but players say consistency and accountability must improve.
“It ain’t on Nate McMillan,” guard Dejounte Murray said after practice. “We’ve all got to look in the mirror.”
Added center Clint Capela: “It’s on all of us. … Consistency,
we just have to be better.”
McMillan couldn’t follow up on the 2021 success. The Hawks lost to Miami in the first round of the playoffs last season after surviving the play-in tournament.
Hawks forward John Collins said McMillan “was a great coach” but added “we need a different type of guidance” from the next coach.
When asked if accountability from players was lacking under McMillan, Collins said, “Yeah, I definitely feel we can do a better job with that.”
Prunty, who has been an NBA assistant coach since 1996, has previous experience as an interim coach. He posted a 21-16 record with Milwaukee after Jason Kidd was fired during the 201718 season.
“It definitely helps, for sure, but every situation is different,” Prunty said. “... The reality is it’s very difficult to make wholesale changes. There may be things that could be tweaked here and there.”