Vladimir Putin and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping have raised the stakes in the ongoing debate about whether Russian and Belarus athletes should be allowed to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
In a joint statement issued after meeting in Moscow the two accused western countries of trying to use sport for unseemly purposes, and that they “oppose the politicisation of sports, and hope to use the unique role of physical culture and sports to promote solidarity and peace.”
The IOC Executive Board is scheduled to meet next week and to explore further whether it should allow athletes to participate under a neutral banner while still upholding a national ban.
Sport is now very much again in the crosshairs as a front in the war in Ukraine and the nerve of sporting administrators will be tested.
The pressure increased with Putin welcoming the decision of the Shanghai Cooperation Association to establish a sporting organisation with the potential to host an alternative Olympic Games, albeit under a different banner.
The group consists of Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It also has informal ties to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. Together they would account for more than half of the world’s population. It is no idle threat.
The reality facing sport now is the same as in politics. It is easy to condemn from the sidelines aggressive actions such as Russia’s against Ukraine.
It gets harder the closer it comes to home. Irish boxers including Kellie Harrington and Amy Broadhurst have paid the price of not defending World Titles or the prospect of winning one by agreeing with the boycott of the World Championships this month. That is a massive loss to them personally but the right thing to do and they deserve recognition for that.
If an alternative World Games is raised the IOC will have to show similar courage in order not to become a pawn in normalising war as a valid diplomatic choice.
The world is watching, from both sides of the divide.
