Ukraine ’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba was left sickened by the prospect of allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in the next Olympic Games. Following their invasion of Ukraine in February, the IOC board recommended banning the two nation’s athletes and officials from participation in international competitions, including the Olympics.
Last month, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) voted to kick out Russia and Belarus from the governing body. But following comments from the IOC President Thomas Bach in reference to a statement from French President Emmanuel Macron, Kuleba took to Twitter to express his displeasure with the statement and accused them of “using sports to whitewash war crimes.”
“Since February, Russia has killed 184 Ukrainian athletes,” he said. “And now Mr. Bach is quoting Emmanuel Macron as allegedly saying ‘sports should not be politicised’ and athletes from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus should be treated equally. Using sports to whitewash war crimes is sickening.”
During a summit in Lausanne on Friday, President Macron, whose country is hosting the Games, added: “Sport should not be politicised." His thoughts were echoed by Bach, who said: “The participation of athletes in sports events can only be on sporting merit and with those athletes who respect the rules of sport.
"We cannot allow Governments to decide on political grounds who can participate. This would put the international sports model at risk, and we will never accept that. The question of the participation of athletes is very different from the question of sanctions for their Government."
The German doubled down on his defence of Macron’s remarks, adding: "Specifically mentioning the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris 2024, he [Macron] underlined that such major events are meant to allow athletes from all countries, sometimes including countries at war, to live their sport." Also during the summit, the IOC said participants at the meeting had ‘explored different ways as to how to overcome the extremely grave dilemma’ of the current ban on athletes from Russia and Belarus.
There were consequences elsewhere for Russian and Belarusian athletes as the LTA banned them from participating in all British tennis events. The AELTC also opted to bar them from participating at Wimbledon this summer, which saw the ATP and WTA strip the grand slam of its ranking points.
This week the LTA was fined £800,000 for their actions and they were not impressed. In a statement, they said: "The ATP, in its finding, has shown no recognition of the exceptional circumstances created by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, or the international sporting community and UK Government's response to that invasion.
"The ATP appear to regard this matter as a straightforward breach of their rules - with a surprising lack of empathy shown for the situation in Ukraine, and a clear lack of understanding of the unique circumstances the LTA faced."
