Will Moscow allow their athletes to go for Paris Games?

DUESSELDORF: With 100 days to go until the Paris Olympics, it’s still not clear whether any athletes from Russia who are expected to qualify will actually go.

The question is whether Moscow will accept the conditions that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) set for Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. Ultimately, it could be up to individual athletes to decide whether to participate.

The IOC expect that 36 Russian athletes – and possibly as many as 54 – will do well enough at qualifying events to compete in Paris.

The IOC will let them compete as “neutral athletes,” meaning they can’t use their country’s flag or anthem or participate in team sports such as soccer and basketball. Athletes with links to the military or who have expressed support for the war will be banned.

The same restrictions apply to Russian ally Belarus. Athletes from Russia and Belarus also aren’t allowed to take part in the opening ceremony on July 26.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has questioned the rules and asked the Russian Olympic Committee and the Sports Ministry to submit recommendations on whether the country’s athletes should compete in Paris.

The ROC and Sports Ministry have sharply contrasting views.

In social media posts, ROC president Stanislav Pozdnyakov alleged the IOC “again and again think up illegitimate criteria” for athletes and “consistently carry out external political orders to isolate Russian sport.”

On April 5, he likened Russian tennis players who are willing to compete in Paris to “a team of foreign agents,” saying that they mostly play and earn money outside Russia and are critical of its policies. Pozdnyakov himself holds the rank of colonel in the Russian military.

Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin, however, has said Russia should not boycott the Olympics.

“We must preserve the possibility of dialogue as much as possible and take part in competitions,” Matytsin said last month in comments reported by state news agency Tass.

Russia sent 335 athletes to Tokyo in 2021 – winning 20 golds among 71 total medals. They competed without national symbols at that Olympics and at the Winter Games in 2018 and 2022 because of a doping scandal. —