Olympic competitors risk being used as “Russian propaganda” after the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals at the Paris Games, Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych said on Friday.
“I don't really understand why the IOC are acting like they are blind or something like that,” Heraskevych said in a video call.
“I am fully OK if they compete but I am not OK if they use their achievements and their participation in Russian propaganda. Because if they use it, then we have more victims in this war.
“It's basically they are saying that they're OK if international sport will be used in Russian propaganda. That's what I feel now.”
Heraskevych used his own moment in the spotlight at last year's Beijing Winter Olympics to hold up a paper sign reading “No War in Ukraine” to a television camera between runs at the skeleton event.
Russian and Belarusian athletes were initially banned from competing internationally after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year.
However, the IOC announced on Friday that athletes who qualified in their sport would be able to participate as neutrals without flags, emblems or anthems in next year's Olympics.
“Let's pretend that I'm a German or Austrian athlete and I'm competing and I won a medal and Russian guy [was] second,” Heraskevych said. “IOC make a photo and then Russian propaganda use this photo in some advertising. I don't want to be used in Russian propaganda. IOC should guarantee me this because that's how it works now.
“If we give this opportunity to use international sport as Russian propaganda ... then more people [are] going to the front line. And more innocent people [are] dying from both sides.
"[The] IOC should understand and take responsibility for that. It's important to not give up and to push IOC and to call them to see some common sense in this decision and to change it.”
The IOC's decision also drew an angry response from Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, who condemned it as “shameful”.
“The IOC essentially gave Russia the green light to weaponise the Olympics because the Kremlin will use every Russian and Belarusian athlete as a weapon in its propaganda warfare,” Kuleba said on X.
In a statement, the IOC said neutral athletes would compete only in individual sports and no teams from the two countries would be allowed. It said those who actively supported the war in Ukraine were not eligible, nor were those contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military.
Out of 4,600 athletes globally who have qualified for the Games so far, eight are Russians and three hold Belarusian passports. More than 60 Ukrainians have qualified.
Ukraine's acting sports minister Matviy Bidnyy said his country's participation at the July and August Paris Games would be decided after talks with the political and sports leadership.
The IOC said on Friday Russians and Belarusians who qualify in their sport for the Paris Olympics can take part as neutrals without flags, emblems or anthems.
After the initial ban, in March the IOC issued a first set of recommendations for international sports federations to allow Russian and Belarusian competitors to return and they have since done so in most events.
Athletics, the Games' biggest sport, is unlikely to open the door for them to return to competition, however, after banning them after the invasion and sticking to it on Friday.
Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba condemned what he said was a “shameful” IOC decision while Russia's sports minister Oleg Matytsin called the conditions set by the IOC for Russian athletes' participation at the Olympics “discriminatory”.
“The executive board (EB) of the IOC has decided that individual neutral athletes (AINs) who have qualified through the existing qualification systems of the International Federations (IFs) on the field of play will be declared eligible to compete at the Olympic Games Paris 2024,” the Olympic body said in a statement.
“Individual neutral athletes are athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport.”
The neutral athletes will only compete in individual sports and no teams for the two countries will be allowed. Athletes who actively support the war in Ukraine are not eligible, nor are those contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military.
The IOC also said no Russian or Belarusian government or state official would be invited to or accredited for Paris 2024.
But athletes, it added, should not be punished for the actions of their governments.
Regarding Ukraine's participation in the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, we will make a decision later, after consulting with the Ukrainian sports community and the country's top political leadership.
— Ukraine acting sports minister Matviy Bidnyy
While Paris Games organisers “took note” of the IOC decision, it drew angry responses from Ukraine and Russia.
Bidnyy said Ukraine's participation at the Paris Games would be decided after talks with the political and sports leadership.
“Regarding Ukraine's participation in the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, we will make a decision later, after consulting with the Ukrainian sports community and the country's top political leadership,” Bidnyy said.
Russia's sports minister Matytsin said the IOC's approach was “unacceptable”.
“Participation in the Olympics is an athlete’s dream. But the conditions are discriminatory and go against the principles of sports,” he was quoted as saying by TASS news agency.
“By doing so, they harm the Olympic Games themselves, and not Russian sports. The approach is absolutely unacceptable.”
Out of 4,600 athletes globally who have qualified for the Games so far, eight are Russians and three hold Belarusian passports. More than 60 Ukrainians have qualified.
Athletics’ suspension of Russia for state-sponsored doping was lifted this year, but after the invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow called a “special military operation”, all Russians and Belarusians were banned from the sport.
In response to the IOC decision on Friday, World Athletics (WA) said: “All athletes, support personnel and officials from Russia and Belarus are excluded from all World Athletics Series events, and from hosting any International or European athletics events.
“We will continue to monitor the situation, but unless there is a major change in circumstances between now and the Olympic Games, this exclusion will apply to Paris 2024.
“It is the IOC’s remit to decide which countries are invited to participate at the Olympic Games, but it is the responsibility of the IFs (international federations) to decide which athletes within their sport are eligible to compete.”
At August’s World Championships in Budapest, WA president Sebastian Coe said it would have been “inconceivable” for Russians and Belarusians to have competed, saying the ban was for “reasons of integrity”.
— Additional reporting by Julien Pretot, Mitch Phillips, Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber and Yuliia Dysa
Reuters
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