In the days after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) arranged a call involving all of its eclectic membership. The 100 or so IOC members include a Mongolian banker, a Cape Verdean schoolteacher, a Fijian doctor, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and HRH Princess Anne, and they all jumped on a Zoom to discuss what to do about Russia.
The point was made by IOC president Thomas Bach that the invasion of another sovereign nation deserved strong sanctions, but his proposal to ban Russia from global sporting events was met with plenty of opposition. One south Asian member spoke up to ask why, if that was the IOC’s policy on war, Britain wasn’t banished for invading Iraq.
