Is the beautiful unity of the Olympic movement on the Russian and Belarusian question beginning to crack? Less than three months after the Lausanne Olympic Summit, where the IOC expressed its desire to explore a path allowing athletes from both countries to return to international competitions, a national Olympic committee publicly took a position against such an eventuality.
Irony of history: this first discordant voice speaks German. Like Thomas Bach.
The number 2 of the German National Olympic Committee (DOSB), Torsten Burmester, clearly explained it on Tuesday February 28: the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to the international scene is still premature. It is much too early to consider it, according to him.
« From our point of view, the right time has not yet come to allow sportsmen and women with a Russian or Belarusian passport into international competitions again., he suggested. Acts of war have further intensified in recent weeks, particularly attacks against civilian populations."
There is no doubt: Torsten Burmester was speaking not in his own name, but in the name of the DOSB. He is its general secretary. Above all, his remarks were published on the official website of the national Olympic committee.
Still according to Torsten Burmester, the German body has never made a secret of its reluctance to see the Olympic movement reopen the door to Russian and Belarusian athletes. The DOSB clearly displayed its position during a videoconference organized by the IOC on January 19 with the national Olympic committees.
Certainly, a majority then emerged to give the green light to a “ exploration » by the IOC of possible means to lift the suspension of athletes from the two countries. But Germany had sided with the opponents.
« We have clearly presented our position, explains Torsten Burmester. We can only imagine reintegration – if it were to be decided – under very strict conditions. True neutrality must be guaranteed, without flags, national symbols, colors and anthems. Scenes like in PyeongChang, Tokyo or Beijing cannot be repeated"
Will the German Olympic Committee's speech shift the balance of the debate? Possible. She is the first of a major national body of the Olympic movement to side with the refusal of a short-term return of Russia and Belarus, a camp hitherto mainly occupied by government representatives.
For the athletes of the two belligerent countries, the declarations of number 2 of the DOSB sound like bad news. They express without the slightest ambiguity a clear opposition to the approach initiated at the end of the year by the IOC. But it's not the only bad news.
Our Agency TASS reports that the question of a possible return of Russian figure skaters to international competitions is not even on the agenda of the next World Conference of the International Skating Union (ISU), scheduled on the sidelines of the 2023 Worlds in Saitama, Japan (March 20 to 26).
The general director of the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FSFR), Alexander Kogan, recognized this on Tuesday February 28 in response to a question from a journalist from TASS : « Allow Russians to participate in international competitions? The conference agenda was approved. And he does not anticipate any such questions. »
As a reminder, the ISU suspended all Russian and Belarusian athletes from its competitions in figure skating, speed skating and short track as of March 1, 2022. Obviously, the suspension is more relevant than ever. It's not even up for debate.
