Just over 400 days before the opening of the Paris 2024 Games (D – 403), the question of Russian participation in the next Olympic competitions remains unanswered. But the dialogue seems increasingly tense between Moscow and Lausanne.
Latest episode: information according to which the IOC could accept a Russian delegation to the Paris 2024 Games under a status comparable, or even identical, to that of the Olympic refugee team. Present for the first time at the Rio 2016 Games, then confirmed five years later at Tokyo 2020, she parades under the Olympic flag. In the event of a victory, the Olympic anthem would be played during the medal ceremony.
The idea is not official. It has neither been confirmed nor denied by the IOC. At this stage, it is more of a rumor. But it didn't take much to provoke chain reactions, all without nuance, in the Russian sports movement, up to the highest summit of the State.
Oleg Matytsin, the Russian Minister of Sports, did not hold back his words when commenting on the news at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). “ First of all, such an initiative must be the subject of a legal analysis in order to determine whether it can be in accordance with the Olympic Charter and human rights., he explained to the agency TASS. But if the idea is indeed to accept us as a team of refugees, then this demonstrates once again that the international community is pursuing a policy of destroying our national sports system. And we cannot accept this. »
Same hostility from the former president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), Alexander Zhukov, also present at the International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg. Now honorary president of the ROC, but also first vice-president of the Duma – the lower house of the Russian parliament – he also rejected such a scenario outright.
« It is simply unacceptable, hammered Alexander Zhukov. They cannot destroy Russian sport, it is impossible. Such demands and attempts can only be motivated by political pressure"
Interviewed by the media R-Sport, the president of the Russian Wrestling Federation, Mikhail Mamiashvili, hit the nail on the head without trying to pull any punches. “ If they want to see us at the 2024 Olympics as a refugee team, we'll have to go to Paris in tanks, he suggested. I have no further comment to make on the subject."
The idea of associating Russian athletes with refugee status is not new. It was mentioned last February by one of Ukraine's strongest allies on the issue, the Polish Minister of Sports, Kamil Bortniczuk. But then it was only a matter of allowing “dissidents” of Russian sport to participate in the Games.
« The IOC could find a compromise by creating a refugee team, which could include people of Russian and Belarusian nationality who are dissidents”, he declared during a press conference.
Not credible? The future will answer. But rumors in the corridors, fueled or not by Lausanne, accentuate the trend: Moscow will not accept participation in the Paris 2024 Games under any conditions. With just over a year to go, the Russians are still standing firm. They could give up, rather than having to comply with the demands of the Olympic movement. A solution that would satisfy almost everyone.
