How much weight should Russian athletes bear during wartime?
There is a chance Evgeni Malkin will leave the Pittsburgh Penguins after this season. He can become a free agent July 13 and sign with another National Hockey League team.
There also is a chance Malkin won’t be with any NHL club next season. What if the league decides to ban Russian players because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? I don’t think that will happen. I don’t want it to happen.
But the possibility can’t be ruled out after what happened with Wimbledon last week.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club announced Wednesday it won’t allow Russian and Belarusian players to compete at the Grand Slam tournament this summer because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The ban means Daniil Medvedev, the world’s No. 2ranked male player, and Aryna Sabalenka, the No. 4-ranked woman, won’t be in the field.
The ban was supported by the Lawn Tennis Association, the governing body of tennis in Great Britain: “After careful consideration, the LTA believes that tennis must join many other areas of sport and public life in sending a clear signal to the Russian and Belarusian states that their actions in Ukraine are the subject of international condemnation. The continuing participation of Russian and Belarusian nationals at events risks providing a boost to those regimes when there is an unprecedented international effort to isolate them and sanction their actions.”
Predictably, the ban largely was condemned by the world’s tennis players, who argued it is discrimination based on nationality.
No. 1-ranked man Novak Djokovic, called it “crazy” and said, “When politics interferes with sport, the result is not good.”
But others have supported the Wimbledon ban.
“@NHL should do the same,” prominent broadcast journalist Keith Olbermann wrote on Twitter. “Want to maintain your Russian citizenship? Enjoy. But not here; not on visas. @ovi8 — this means you. And Shesterkin, Panarin and all the rest. If we’re going to take all nonwar measures, take them.”
That “@ovi8” is Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin, arguably the most visible and successful Russian athlete. Igor Shesterkin and Artemi Panarin play for the New York Rangers. Malkin is among all the rest.
Ovechkin, long an ardent supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, spoke out briefly against the war in Ukraine but has been criticized for stopping well short of condemning Putin’s murderous actions.
“Well, he is my president,” Ovechkin said. “But how I said, I am not in politics. I am an athlete and you know, how I said, I hope everything is going to be done soon ...
“Please, no more war. It doesn’t matter who is in the war — Russia, Ukraine, different countries. I think we live in a world, like, we have to live in peace and a great world.”
Malkin has refused to speak publicly since the invasion began in late-February despite many requests for him to do so.
I get that.
Ovechkin mentioned he is in a tough spot because he has family members in Russia. Malkin is in that same rough spot. I don’t know if I would be willing to put my family’s safety at risk by speaking out against Putin, who does not treat those who oppose him well.
I also agree with Djokovic that politics and sports shouldn’t mix. Russian athletes should not be blamed for what Putin has done. They are not responsible for the war. Putin is.
But the harsh reality is politics and sports long have been uneasy partners. We saw it again in this country in September 2017 when U.S. president Donald Trump strongly criticized National Football League players who took a knee for the national anthem as a peaceful protest of racial discrimination and politic brutality. “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you’d say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired,’ ” he said famously.
It’s fair to think Trump benefited politically from many with that stance.
It’s just as fair to think Putin is benefiting from the success of the Russian athletes on the world’s stage. He treasures their success. He takes great value from it, almost as if it is a validation of his regime.
Will the Wimbledon ban stop Putin’s madness?
Would an NHL ban?
Or would it just hurt innocent athletes who want nothing to do with war?