Olympic Games for terrorists:
YES or NO?

By Anna Konovalenko

Image from Pexel

Even though the Olympic Games are considered to be an unpolitical event, they draw a lot of attention at the moment. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine made IOC ban Russia and Belarus from participating in the following competition. However, recently there have been a lot of discussions to let those two countries compete.

The IOC trying to push Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 and in the Winter Olympic Games in Milan in 2026. In a recent statement, they said that no athlete can be excluded from the games just because of a certain citizenship. Thus there has been a lot of arguing about whether the choice to allow Russia and Belarus to participate is fair and “legal”. 

IOC claimed: “Athletes would participate in competitions as “neutral athletes” and in no way represent their state or any other organisation in their country, as is already happening in professional leagues, particularly in Europe, the United States and Canada, and in some individual professional sports.”

Ukrainian athletes continue to emphasize the importance of the boycott for the terrorist countries and massively begin to post their appeals to the IOC. We collected some of them.

Andriy Shevchenko, a former Ukrainian football player, and the Ballon d’Or owner, wrote on his Facebook page: “There is no politics in sport. But this war is more than just politics… If athletes from Russia or Belarus enter the arena, with or without flags, it reflects this statement from the Olympic Committee to the whole world — the war is over, you can forgive everyone and forget everything…”

Elina Svitolina, Ukrainian professional tennis player and first Olympian to win a medal for Ukraine, says: “…Volodymyr Androshchuk, one of Ukraine’s rising stars in track & field, was sadly killed in action. He will never fulfil his potential or dreams at the games, so why should Russian and Belarusian athletes get their chance when their governments are robbing innocent people and athletes of their chance?!!”

Volodymyr Klitschko, former professional boxer and a world heavyweight champion said: “The Russians are Olympic champions in crimes against civilians. They have the gold medal in deportation of children and rape of women. You cannot put your Olympic emblems on these crimes because you will be an accomplice in this abominable war. Do not do this, otherwise, you will betray the Olympic spirit… The world is watching you. History will judge you. Good luck with your decision.”

The next following months will be decisive in resolving this issue. The world is pressing Thomas Bach, the president of the Olympic committee, to exclude Russia and Belarus once and for all. However, Mr Bach doesn’t seem to be very sure about it.