Caution, the doors are opening!

Belarusian and Russian athletes return to world sport

The ice has broken. There was a stir and fuss in the offices of the sports federations after the recent meeting of the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee, at which the conditions for the admission of Belarusian and Russian representatives to international competitions were formed and announced. Someone reacted instantly and hurried to cancel the hard ban almost the next day, others took note of the information, but took a pause for reflection.

In the beginning it were sambo and boxing. The International Federation of Amateur SAMBO (FIAS) did not succumb to pressure and took a principled and bold position a year ago: not to ban! Since then, sambo wrestlers from Belarus and Russia have successfully performed at the largest top tournaments in a neutral status. They are preparing to fight at the World and European Championships this year as well. Boxers also stood up and took the fight, having the reputation of the most daring sports federation in the Olympic family. The IBA not only crumpled up the previous recommendations of the IOC and shoved them away, but responded to all the bans to politicised sports officials with a powerful uppercut: they allowed the national teams of Russia and Belarus to participate in tournaments under their auspices without any restrictions and infringement of rights — with an anthem, a flag and with full national equipment. The IBA World Women’s Boxing Championship has already been held in this format in New Delhi (our Yuliya Apanasovich returned with a bronze medal), while the men’s championship will also be held in Tashkent in May.   Fencers were the first to support the emerging position of a slight thaw. They even gave a proactive injection, having outlined their principled position even before the meeting of the IOC Executive Board: 89 participants of the FIE Congress supported the return of Belarusians and Russians, 46 votes were against. Then they spoke at the International Table Tennis Federation. Here before, they tried, if possible, to level all political obstacles (back in May last year, the federation restored Russian clubs in the Champions League), and now they reported with enthusiasm: taking into account the current schedule, if all conditions are met, Russian and Belarusian players will be able to take part in competition in May. Next, the representatives of taekwondo gave the go-ahead. Following an online discussion, the World Federation of this type of martial arts decided to allow Belarusians and Russians as neutral athletes to participate in international tournaments, starting with the 2023 World Championship, which will be held in Baku at the end of May. Chairman of the Belarusian Taekwondo Federation Vyacheslav Berzhets remarked on this, 

“Of course, we plan that our team will go to the World Cup. Next week we will hold a coaching council, discuss the composition of the team and further stages of preparation for this tournament. In the meantime, athletes conduct decentralised training — they train locally. As for other recommendations of the IOC, we do not have athletes in the national team who would be members of the Armed Forces, national security agencies, so this issue is not before us.”

Nevertheless, this applies to wrestlers. On Tuesday, the executive committee of the United World Wrestling (UWW) also issued its ‘approval’ regarding the admission of the national teams of Belarus and Russia. Moreover, the decision to participate in the competitions of the youth teams of both countries (U-15 and U-17) came into force immediately. But not everything is clear yet with adult athletes precisely due to their mass belonging to the societies of law enforcement agencies. The general mood and position on this issue was expressed by the President of Russian Wrestling Federation Mikhail Mamiashvili, “Not a single recommendation should humiliate civil and human dignity. The general mood is as follows: not to stray into primitive relations, to put universal values at the forefront. For us, such humiliating demands from the IOC are unacceptable. Neither the status of the Olympic Games, nor the desire to compete in them can make an animal out of a person. That’s the mood we have.” In the meantime, the UWW plans to propose to the IOC to soften the criteria for athletes working under contract with military organisations. But in the International Judo Federation (IJF), they have taken a very strange position of a weak-willed pendulum and live by the principle: where all others, there I too. It works for a long time already. A year ago, Russians and Belarusians were allowed on the tatami in a neutral status, but already in September they themselves annulled their decision. In January, the admission was again approved, but only formally, blocking all attempts to apply at the stage of filing documents — they are constantly blocked and kept off and on. The Secretary General of the Belarusian Federation Ruslan Sharapov says, 

“Formally, the judoists of Russia and Belarus were admitted to the World Championship in a neutral status, which starts on May 7th in Qatar. But the problem is that the selection there is based on rating, but many wrestlers lost their positions during the suspension and do not have the opportunity to improve them. We could enter the team competition, but the IOC no longer orders it. It’s like a vicious circle…”

By the way, the question of belonging to organisations of law enforcement and military structures in judo is also acute. The head coach of the national team Andrei Kazusenok, for example, has been serving in the Emergencies Ministry all his adult life, he is lieutenant colonel. It is unlikely that he will decide to bend under the changing world and go into reserve.  Many other international federations gave their go-to response on a hot topic: they ‘took note’ and ‘look for opportunities’. In weightlifting, cycling and gymnastics, they said that such issues cannot be solved without stopping to think and, in the best style of hardened bureaucrats, they advised ‘to come in for a week’. A special working group was created in rowing, in UIPM (pentathlon) they decided not to change the ‘current protective measures’ yet. The World Athletics Association is also among those who do not itch yet. “Athletes, officials and personnel from Russia and Belarus are still suspended for the foreseeable future,” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe gleefully told the public at a recent press conference. At the same time, the association restored the status of the All-Russian Federation, which gives the Russians the right to come to Belarus for domestic tournaments, and Belarusian athletes to participate in Russian competitions. This was prohibited during the ARAF doping ban. That’s a good start.

By Sergei Kanashits