IOC stands firm, no Russia ban

ATHENS - The Olympic movement is facing its biggest dilemma since the Cold War: Bow to demands to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes or risk the first mass boycott of the Games in 40 years.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and several of the most powerful national Olympic committees hate the idea of a boycott of the biggest money-spinner in world sport.

After hitting rock bottom with reserves of around US$200 000 after the 1980 Moscow Games boycott, the IOC now has a staggering US$5.6 billion in assets.

Despite their fear of another boycott, after that in 1984 massively undermined the event, it appears the IOC are prepared to risk it in order to maintain their ‘non-negotiable’ stance that the Games remain above and beyond politics and that athletes should not be banned due to their governments’ actions.

Ukraine and its Eastern European and Baltic neighbours are leading the call for Russian and Belarusian athletes to be banned from Paris as long as Moscow’s troops maintain their invasion of Ukraine, which Belarus helped facilitate.

Neutrals

The IOC wants Russians and Belarusians to compete as ‘neutrals’ - with no national uniforms or flags.

On Monday, more than 30 countries including the United States, Britain and France pledged their support for banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions.

But Reuters’ conversations with several Olympic officials reveal widespread support for the IOC standing firm - despite it last year initially handing the decision over Russian participation to individual sports. The association of national Olympic committees also backs the IOC’s position.

“If the IOC banned athletes from countries at war over the years, it would have violated the Olympic Charter and would not have given the Games its universal character where sport is above politics,” said a president of a European nation’s national Olympic Committee (NOC) that backs neutral participation of Russia and Belarus.

“Ukraine is not the only war or armed conflict in the world right now,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity. Some other Olympics officials also pointed to what they saw as hypocrisy in picking and choosing which warring nations to exclude.

Ukrainian athletes accused IOC President Thomas Bach of being “on the wrong side of history” after he asked them to drop threats of a boycott.