Pressed to clarify its position, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is discussing on Tuesday a return of Russians and Belarusians to international competitions, a possibility that is causing diplomatic tensions in the run-up to Olympic Games-2024 in Paris, whose qualifications have started for some disciplines.
Until when can the Olympic body procrastinate, which announced last December “to explore ways” to bring the banished back into the fold of world sport, after having recommended their exclusion at the end of February 2022 due to the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army?
Officially, the IOC Executive Board, which will hold a press briefing at 4 p.m. (10 a.m. EDT), simply plans to “review the conclusions and reactions recorded after several telephone consultations” with its own members, National Olympic Committees (NOCs), International Federations (IFs) and athlete representations.
Of the three items on the agenda, two are beyond doubt: the “sanctions against Russia and Belarus”, that is to say the banning of the official symbols of the two countries as well as international competitions on their soil, will be reaffirmed, as will the “solidarity” – especially financial – with Ukrainian athletes.
Under neutral banner
The suspense relates to the possible lifting of the “protective measures” with regard to the athletes of the two countries, that is to say their exclusion from most competitions because – according to the argument of the IOC – of the hostility aroused by their presence and the threat it poses to the smooth running of the events.
For the Olympic organization, this banishment cannot go on forever: “no athlete should be banned from competition on the sole basis of his passport”, has been hammering the IOC for several months, relying among other things on the opinion of two United Nations experts.
The Lausanne-based body has therefore marked out the way back in January: if they have “not actively supported the war in Ukraine”, a criterion which promises to be difficult to assess, Russians and Belarusians could once again compete “under a neutral banner”.
But when ? The IOC, which intends to consult the Olympic world as long as necessary, has given no deadline, and also affirms that the international federations (IF) remain the “sole authorities” governing their events.
Except that the Olympic organization had been able to decide without ambiguity when it came to excluding the Russians and Belarusians last year, and that with less than 500 days from the Paris Olympics, everyone is waiting to know if they will be able to participate.
Boycott threats
Left in the dark, the international federations are taking up the issue in scattered order: last Thursday, the athletics federation confirmed the exclusion “in the near future” of athletes from the two countries, even though its qualifying events for the next Games have started.
Conversely, fencing became on March 10 the first Olympic sport to reinstate them from April – the start of its qualification period – “subject to possible recommendations / future decisions of the IOC”.
However, the first reactions illustrated the extent of the difficulties to be overcome before sending Russians and Belarusians to the 2024 Olympics, while around thirty countries – including France, Great Britain, the United States and Canada — asked the IOC for “clarifications” on this subject.
Last Thursday, the German Fencing Federation thus gave up the organization of the Women’s Foil World Cup stage scheduled for early May in Tauberbischofsheim, judging that there remained “too many open questions” on the reinstatement of the excluded fencers. .
A few days later, the Ukrainian Federation of the discipline announced that it would boycott any competition in which Russian and Belarusian athletes would be engaged, a threat that already hovers over the 2024 Olympics from Ukraine as from Poland and the Baltic countries.