Russia remains in exile from sport, 1 year after invading Ukraine

A year after the invasion of Ukraine began, Russia’s reintegration into the world of sport threatens to create the biggest schism in the Olympic movement since the Cold War.

Russia is still excluded from many international sporting events, but that may soon change. Next year’s Olympics in Paris are fast approaching and the knockout tournaments are underway.

The International Olympic Committee is working on resuming the participation of Russian and Belarusian competitors, but not everyone agrees with that.

If Russian athletes return to competition, world sport will have to address two key issues that emerged in the first days after the invasion.

How can Russian athletes come back without Ukrainians leaving? What to do with Russian athletes who support the war?

During the first battles, the Ukrainian fencing team refuses to compete with the Russians during a tournament in Egypt. He was carrying a sign that said, “Stop Russia; stop the war; save Ukraine; Save Europe!”

A year later, one of the biggest obstacles to Russia’s return to sport is Ukraine’s continuing threat to boycott the events, as long as it doesn’t deliver a propaganda blow to its enemy and traumatize not war-affected Ukrainian athletes.

Other European countries have warned against boycotting the Olympics if Russian athletes are allowed to participate.

The last widespread instances of Olympic boycotts came four decades ago, when the United States and more than 60 allies failed to participate in the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The Soviet Union and its allies retaliated by boycotting the Los Angeles Games in 1984.

Another potential problem is the acts of specific athletes. Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak affixed a ‘Z’ symbol to his chest, mimicking a marking used on his country’s military vehicles, as he took to the podium alongside the Ukrainian winner at an event in Qatar in March .

He was suspended for a year.

The IOC now warns that it will not support the return of any Russian athlete who has “acted against the Committee’s peace mission, actively supporting the war in Ukraine”. However, he did not define what this means in practice.

Sports organizations moved quickly last year to respond to the Russian invasion. A day after the tanks rolled into Ukraine, Russia was stripped of the venue for the Champions League football final and the Formula 1 Grand Prix.

After four days, the IOC recommended excluding Russian and Belarusian athletes from the events, “to protect the integrity of global competitions and for the safety of all participants”.

The Russian national football team was then in qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar, which it hoped to qualify for. But Poland refused to face him.

Russia were ruled out after the competition, four years after hosting the 2018 World Cup and reaching the quarter-finals.

As the Paris Olympics approach, the IOC has stressed its duty to avoid discrimination against any athlete based on their nationality and to pave the way for Russians and Belarusians to compete as neutral athletes without national symbols.

The IOC argued that security concerns would be avoided if Russia and Belarus participated in events in Asia, including Olympic qualifiers at the Asian Games in China.

Similarly, the IOC points to the case of tennis, where men’s and women’s professional tours have allowed Russians and Belarusians to compete without national symbols.

Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka was crowned last month at the Australian Open.

Even in tennis, Russia and Belarus are excluded from national team competitions, such as the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King. They were also unable to participate in the last edition of Wimbledon.