In the days after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the IOC arranged a conference call involving all of its eclectic members. About 100 IOC members, including a Mongolian banker, a Cape Verdean school teacher, a Fijian doctor, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, all jumped on Zoom to discuss how to deal with Russia.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach says an invasion of another sovereign country should be met with tough sanctions, but his proposal to ban Russia from global sporting events has met with much opposition. One South Asian member has spoken out asking why Britain was not expelled for invading Iraq if this was the IOC’s war policy.
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The tensions at that meeting reflected broader geopolitical realities — European anger over Russia’s invasion was and is not spreading around the world. Over the past 12 months, Russia has begun a slow return to sport. The judo federation announced its full reinstatement last year, and FIFA president Gianni Infantino has made it clear that football is moving in the same direction under his leadership.
So it’s no surprise when Russia and its close ally Belarus are welcomed into the country ahead of this month’s Winter Paralympics in Milan-Cortina. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was formed at the behest of its global membership, many of which do not share the same strong sentiments as those in Europe. Six Russians and four Belarusians will take part in the nation’s parade for Friday night’s opening ceremony, the most public display since 2016 and Russia’s return to competition amid a doping scandal.
Russia’s Sergei Tetiukhin holds the flag during the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics (Getty Images)
Disturbingly, there will be no Ukrainian flag at the parade. Ukraine, as well as a string of European countries within Russia’s reach – Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic – are boycotting the ceremony. Estonia’s main broadcaster has vowed not to broadcast any matches of Russian athletes.
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Criticism across Europe was loud and angry. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned the “horrible” move to reintegrate into Russia, with his sports minister Matvey Bidny calling the decision “outrageous”. Campaign group Global Athletes accused any sports body that welcomes Russia’s return of being an “enabler” of Putin’s war. Italian government officials are unhappy that their Olympics have been contaminated.
The IPC explained its decision, saying there was no longer clear evidence that Russia was using sport to promote its war. This is an interesting point because Vladimir Putin has spent the past two decades using sport as a veil of legitimacy. During the 2008 Olympics, Russia invaded Georgia. During the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia invaded Crimea. So much for the old Olympic Truce.
Vladimir Putin poses with Russian medalists after the 2024 Paris Paralympics (AP)
Russia continues to use sport as a tool to enhance its soft power, hosting the 2018 World Cup as if nothing had happened. The backlash to the doping scandal was arguably stronger than the reaction to Putin’s belligerence. Now, Russia returns to the Olympic stage. The five rings carry a high level of credibility and Putin will no doubt view this return as recognition of Russia’s wider acceptance on the international stage.
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But the Paralympics won’t be the last Olympics to get Russia back on track. While the IOC’s stance remains firmer than that of its Paralympic cousin, forcing Russian athletes to compete under neutral flags at the recent Winter Olympics, President Kirsty Coventry’s voice suggests Russia could make a full return at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
Coventry is seeking to change the Olympics’ role as a diplomatic entity and international geopolitical arbiter that it expanded under predecessor Thomas Bach. Coventry, who won the presidency last year with an athletes-first manifesto, wants the IOC to return to its primary mission as organizer of the Olympic movement.
Russian skier Varvara Voronchikhina trains ahead of the Winter Paralympic Games in Cortina (Getty Images)
Her stance is partly a response to increasingly complex world conditions. From the Middle East to Sudan to India and Pakistan, sports bodies have no mechanism to decide on appropriate sanctions for each conflict. The hosts of the 28th Olympic Games in Los Angeles have just ousted the leaders of Venezuela and Iran on shaky legal grounds, and the IOC may now be legitimately asked by some members whether it should ban American athletes from its own Games.
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Donald Trump is a looming challenge to the Olympic and Paralympic movements. Sources from the International Olympic Committee revealed independent Coventry is quietly worrying about her political dance with the US president before heading to Los Angeles. She is unlikely to adopt the same self-satisfied approach as FIFA president Infantino, who was seen wearing a Trump-issued red hat and handing out the ill-judged Peace Prize. Tension is inevitable. That the Olympics will be held in California, a Democratic heartland, only adds to the political advantage.
So the IOC may decide it’s easier to let Russia in than continue to play judge and jury. The problem, of course, is that politics can never be entirely divorced from sport. During the Winter Olympics, Coventry begged Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladislav Hraskevich to give up his protest war helmet and was moved to tears by her efforts, but he refused. In the next 10 days, more hot-button events will inevitably distract people’s attention from the Paralympics. The story will cast a pall over the sport. Russia is back at major sporting events for the first time in a decade, and that’s just the beginning.
