(Paris) The sanctions followed one another on Tuesday following the call of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban the Russians from international sports competitions: as their footballers, their athletes and their skaters were banned and the organization of the World Cup volleyball was taken away from them.
Posted at 12:25 p.m.
With its call “not to invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions” and its withdrawal of all Olympic honors from senior officials, including Vladimir Putin, the IOC broke with a long tradition of non-intervention in political or geopolitical debates.
And for now, this recommendation seems to be largely followed through: Russia seems to be following the path of Slobodan Milosevic’s Yugoslavia and apartheid South Africa in the history of sports pariahs.
FIFA and UEFA reacted immediately on Monday by excluding Russia from the World Cup, whose play-offs they were due to play against Poland on March 24.
On Tuesday, announcements followed one another, in particular from two particularly symbolic federations for the Russians, skating and athletics, even though these two disciplines are organizing world championships this month, respectively in Montpellier and Belgrade (room) .
Hegemonic among women, the Russians won six medals including two gold in figure skating in Beijing. As for the athletes, who had been unable to compete in their country’s jersey in Tokyo due to a doping scandal, they are seeing their return to the family of athletics move away: after Belgrade, they will also be excluded outdoor Worlds in Eugene (Oregon) next summer.
Long silent, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has announced that it will entrust another country with the organization of the World Cup, initially scheduled for August and September in Russia. The FIVB had been under pressure since France and Poland, Olympic and world champions respectively, announced they would boycott the competition if it was not held elsewhere.
Fencing and the Usmanov case
Skiing, basketball, ice hockey, rugby: Russians are banned from many other sports. There will be no more professional boxing fights in a country already deprived of its Formula 1 Grand Prix in Sochi and the Champions League final, two events of global significance which Moscow had made instruments of influence and Communication.
The Fina (swimming), which had already canceled all competitions on Russian soil, however followed the recommendations less radically: the Russians will be able to continue to line up, but as individuals, in no case under the banners Russian and Belarusian.
Same decision taken in a terse press release by fencing, whose international federation has been led since 2008 by the Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov, targeted by European sanctions and who has withdrawn from the organization of which he is also a financier.
Another discipline where the Russians are a major force: tennis. As the WTA and ATP tournaments in Indian Wells, California approach, the organizations that govern world tennis have still not taken a position.
Svitolina’s Wrath
To the chagrin of Elina Svitolina and other Ukrainian players who were surprised by the silence of the WTA, and the contrast with its reaction in the Peng Shuai case.
Committed to the Monterrey tournament, Svitolina refused to face the Russian Anastasia Potapova in the first round and warned that she would maintain this position as long as the tennis authorities did not follow the first recommendations of the IOC to accept “Russian nationals or Belarusians only as neutral athletes”.
Russians Daniil Medvedev, world No.1, Andrey Rublev (No.6) and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (No.14), as well as Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (No.3) are among the biggest stars of the little yellow ball.
What legal basis?
The spectacular and historic position of the IOC took many federations by surprise, reports to AFP, on condition of anonymity, a senior official of one of them.
Some are worried about the fragility of its legal basis, while Russia has denounced their “discriminatory” nature and hinted that they could challenge them, in particular before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
But pending possible appeals, the answers given on Tuesday are clearly in line with the IOC’s recommendations.
Other decisions expected are those of the Haas Formula 1 team, whose main sponsor is the Russian giant Uralkali, and of the UCI concerning the Gazprom/VéloRus team, which must notably align itself with the Tirreno-Adriatico (7- March 13) and Milan-San Remo (March 19) and has already lost its equipment supplier, the French LOOK, who suspended his contract.
At the same time, global sports equipment giant Adidas suspended its partnership with the Russian Football Federation.
Another fast deadline, the Paralympic Games, which begin on Friday. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is scheduled to speak on Wednesday.