«An idea that shocks me»- Corriere.it

A very strong and very questionable political gesture: readmit Russian athletes — initially disqualified for the doping scandal of the sieve laboratory Sochi 2014 Winter Gamesthen readmitted under a quota quota under a neutral flag and banned since 24 February (along with the Belarusians) because of the war declared by Russia on Ukraineto the international sports forum. theremoral persuasion
that the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, is exercising on the Federations. Objective: already at the next Olympic Games (Paris 2024, summer, and Milan-Cortina 2026, winter) the athletes of his friend Putin at the starting line.

A Volodymyr Zelensky the opening feared by the great boss of planetary sport has not gone down: I want to remember that in conflict, since we were invaded, 184 Ukrainian athletes have already died – said the president – ​​and that the Russians have always used sport as a propaganda tool. The idea of ​​Russia and Belarus being able to compete again at international level shocks me. The only serious response to a terrorist state consists in its complete isolation even in the sporting context.

At the end of a very long Executive Committee (to which he was also invited amidst the controversy the head of Russian Olympic sports Stanislav Pozdnyakov), in early December Bach had declared that if the sanctions remain out of the question, the fact remains that the question of the participation of the athletes is different from that of the punishments to the Nations to which they belong. What we never wanted to do was prohibit athletes from competing just because of their passport. We must overcome this dilemma and return to sporting merits, not political meddling. On the same occasion, Bach also sharply criticized the decision by Wimbledon organizers and the British government to ban Russian and Belarusian tennis players from the tournament, calling it contrary to the Olympic spirit.

The phone call between the two presidents yesterday did not help to clarify the misunderstandings: Zelensky stood his ground (The ban must also apply to athletes), while Bach reminded him of the UN resolution on the unifying and conciliatory nature of sport but also, less poetically, the 7.5 million dollars donated by the IOC to the Ukrainian Olympic Committee so that its athletes can present themselves in the best possible conditions at the next Games. Bach’s words provoked an immediate reaction from the Minister of Sport and President of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee: We will do everything in our power for not having Russians and Belarusians in the race Vadym Guttsait had explained, “and not to see their flags hoisted on the mast until the war is over. Instead, Bach found an ally in French President Macron who, 589 days before the Olympics in his home, said he wanted the Games open to all nations, in the Olympic spirit, including those at war.