“How can you sleep with that?”
Bach’s Russia argument is crumbling massively
03/23/2023 1:14 p.m
Are Russia’s athletes returning to world sport? The decision on the explosive and divisive question should be made in the coming week. In Essen, President Thomas Bach defends the IOC line – and encounters fierce resistance.
Thomas Bach had had enough of the question-and-answer game in which he could only lose. “I don’t know if we have to artificially extend it,” said the IOC President, but was not heard. His host in the Essen Philharmonic allowed three more statements, including that of the Polish Consul General Jakub Wawrzyniak, who asked Bach about the sport-political dimension of the war in Ukraine: “How can you sleep with that?”
The debate about the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to the Olympic family has not only divided the sports world for a long time. It has become a political issue and is not only conducted in a highly emotional manner in the Ruhr area. After all, Bach, who was received unfriendly by 150 demonstrators in Essen on Wednesday evening, announced a decision by the IOC at the upcoming executive meeting.
Bach’s solidarity knows limits
“Wait until the middle of next week. I am confident that we will then come up with the appropriate guidelines,” he said, assuring how difficult the IOC’s work is. This is “not an enviable task” because: Despite all the understanding for the “incomprehensible suffering” caused by the “inhuman crimes”, Bach’s much-vaunted solidarity with the Ukraine has its limits.
Bach did not deviate from his line of argument: Neither the UN nor the Olympic Charter allow discrimination against athletes on the basis of their origin. Bach warned of the “disintegration of the international sports system”, he referred to the global majority for reintegration with a view to the 2024 games in Paris. And anyway: In tennis, the peaceful coexistence between Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians works extremely well.
The scene is in turmoil
That may have happened to Bach in the Olympic headquarters in Lausanne, but the reality is different: the Ukrainian Marta Kostjuk broke down crying after a match against a Russian, which Bach also sold in Essen as a shining example, and refused to shake hands, her compatriot Lessja Zurenko did not even play against Aryna Sabalenka. A panic attack made her barely breathe.
Sabalenka herself, winner of the Australian Open and neutralized as a Belarusian as requested by the IOC, speaks of “hate”. The Russian Anastassya Potapova provoked in the shirt of the football club Spartak Moscow. Industry leader Iga Swiatek from Poland lamented the lack of support for Ukrainian players. The scene is in turmoil. And Bach’s argument is crumbling.
“Legitimate Grounds” for Disqualification
A legal opinion on the issue of discrimination commissioned by the DOSB casts doubt on the IOC’s assertion that there is no alternative. Law professor Patricia Wiater from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg sees “legitimate reasons” for an exclusion – also “peace-related” by counteracting “war propaganda instrumentalization of sporting events”. “The IOC takes note of the DOSB’s position,” said a spokesman for the Rings organization. Only: “As far as the interpretation of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights is concerned, the IOC trusts in the interpretation of the UN special rapporteurs appointed for this purpose.” discussion ended.
The way is prepared, the question is no longer whether Russians and Belarusians will return to the sports stage during their regime’s attacks on the civilian population in Ukraine, but only: how? Strict neutrality, no active support for the war and compliance with the anti-doping code are Bach’s watchwords. Whether and how all this can be controlled? Unclear to unthinkable.
Also for Christian Keller, bronze medal winner in swimming at the 1996 Summer Games and Essen veteran. Keller confronted Bach directly: “Would you accept that Ukraine is boycotting the 2024 Games and that neutral athletes from Russia are allowed?” Bach dodged the question, saying that Keller and many of the audience in Essen would not have liked his answer.