IOC boss Bach thinks Russians and Belarusians athletes and coaches should not be punished because leaders declared war on another country.
Sports is supposed to be an escape from the mundane day-to-day world. But sports does live in the real world and the real world features a war that Russia initiated with Ukraine in February 2022 and that started a global sports boycott of Russia. Many countries want no part of Russia in international competitions including the Olympics. It appears that the International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach wants to somehow put Russia back into the Olympics rotation and is running into opposition. The Paris 2024 Summer Olympics is not that very far away but France does not want any Russians or Belarusians at the event. Bach, though, is of the opinion that “athletes should not be discriminated against because of the passport they hold”.
In England, the Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer reached out to the U. K.’s chief executives of 13 IOC partners, including Coca-Cola, Intel, Samsung and Visa, asking them to exert pressure on the IOC to spell out the ‘pathway’ it is considering which would allow Russians and Belarusians to compete as neutrals. Bach defended his stance that Russians and Belarusians should be in Paris. “If this would continue, then our sports competitions and the international sport system would be gone. Today it’s Russia and Belarus. Tomorrow it’s the next country and then the other countries coming back with counter-sanctions. We have to work for our unifying mission, to defend the athletes to defend the international sports movement.” While Bach is trying to persuade people to accept the fact there is a war going on but don’t take it out on the athletes, he is not convincing people like the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo who wants no part of Russian athletes in her city in 2024 “while the war continues” in Ukraine. Sports is part of the real world.
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