Ukraine calls to veto the participation of Russia and Belarus in the JJ. oo. Paris 2024

The old ghost of the Olympic boycott that came to life during the Cold War returns. And it is that this February 10 a meeting was held to define the actions that will be carried out so that the athletes of Russia and its ally Belarus do not participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The meeting, which was held virtually, was led by the UK Minister for Sport and Culture, Lucy Frazer. “Here there is a danger that the world wants to move on and return to normality,” said the official, referring to the participation of the representation of Moscow and Minsk.

Some 35 nations attended, including the United States, Germany, Australia and, of course, Ukraine, which was represented by its head of state, Volodimir Zelensky. In his speech, the president stressed that “while Russia kills and terrorizes, the representatives of the terrorist state have no place in sports and Olympic competitions.”

At another point, Zelensky lashed out at the possibility of Russian athletes competing under a neutral flag. “If representatives of a terrorist state appear at an international sports competition or the Olympic Games, will it matter if they are there without their national symbols? The mere presence of representatives of the terrorist state is the manifestation of violence and lawlessness,” he urged.

Despite his statements and suggesting his country’s absence from the Paris games, the Ukrainian leader winked at the Gauls to support the veto of the Russian and Belarusian athletes. “Dear, dear France, I really know, I know that you really don’t want to allow the Olympic principles, the Olympic principles, to be distorted,” Zelensky said.

For his part, the Undersecretary of State in charge of the Office of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State stressed that his country still supports the request to sports organizations that allow the participation of Russians under the neutral flag.

According to a Department spokesperson, Washington will continue to “consult” with its independent National Olympic Committee, the Olympic and Paralympic Committee, on next steps. In addition, he stated that he expected “greater clarity from the IOC on its proposed policy towards Russia and Belarus.”

A request to Thomas Bach

Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Guttsait had previously addressed an open letter to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach: “The participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions will make it impossible for Ukrainian athletes to participate in them, because every one of the Ukrainians suffered Russian aggression in one way or another: they lost their family and friends, they lost their homes, they received psychological trauma, they lost the opportunity to do what they love,” Guttsait said in the letter.

However, the minister assures that the threat of a boycott “goes against the foundation of the International Olympic Movement.” “In Russia, sport is an element of politics, a powerful propaganda, in this case the promotion of war,” he said at another time.

In statements to the press offered after the meeting, the Ukrainian official confirmed that “if these athletes (Russians and Belarusians) do not share the views of their countries, then each of them must say publicly: ‘I am against this war, I condemn this war.’ But none of them said. None of them. Meanwhile, we see them attending sporting events with the letter Z on their jerseys, we see them raising money for the ‘special operation’, we see them supporting the ‘operation’. If they say they support the ‘operation’, then there is no place for them in the Olympic movement.”

The position of the IOC

Last year, the International Olympic Committee backed the decision to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from sporting events for security reasons. But now he has relaxed his position: while he remains opposed to the participation of Russia and Belarus as nations, he does not do so to that of their athletes as long as they compete under a neutral flag.

In this sense, the Olympic body delegated to the federations that organize individual Olympic events the final decision on the re-entry of athletes from both countries, which can culminate in major disagreements.

It would also be in their hands to define which athlete they consider to be “actively supporting the war.” Meanwhile, the IOC does not quite define what constitutes “support” for them.

However, from the institution they did denounce the boycott attempts by kyiv, arguing that the “pressure goes against the principles of the Olympic movement.”

Bach assured through a letter at the end of January that Ukraine’s position and its pressures are “extremely unfortunate.” Likewise, he maintained that “the vast majority” of the protagonists of the organization of the JJ. oo. they are against the reaction of the government of Volodimir Zelensky.

Boycotts in the history of Olympism

Despite the pressure from Ukraine and until we see where they go, the history of the Olympic Games has other similar cases in its memory. The first case of Olympic boycott occurred at the Olympics in Montreal 1976. That edition of the games was not attended by 22 nations, mainly African. The reason was New Zealand’s request for exclusion. His rugby team had faced that of South Africa, at that time noted for its policy of apartheid.

At the next celebration Moscow 1980, the United States led the absence of 67 nations. A way to protest the invasion carried out by the extinct Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in Afghanistan.

The revenge came four years later, when some 15 nations did not participate in los angeles 1984. Among them were Cuba, North Korea and East Germany.

Finally, in 1988 the last sabotage -until now- of the spirit of the games took place. By not giving in to certain requests from North Korea, it decided not to attend seoul 1988a decision that was seconded by other nations such as Cuba and Nicaragua.

With Reuters, AP and local media