The actions of international officials in relation to Russian sports go against the core idea of the Games, the president has said
© Getty Images / Richard Heathcote
Sports officials have distorted the original concept of the Olympic movement and have become too focused on the business side, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a live Q&A session on Thursday.
He was asked to comment on the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) latest decision to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete in the upcoming 2024 Paris Games as neutral athletes, provided that they adhere to a set of restrictions.
Putin responded by saying that everything international sports officials have been doing in regard to Russian sports has been a “complete contradiction and a perversion” of the ideas of Pierre de Coubertin, who conceived the modern Olympic movement with the idea that sports unite people.
The Russian president noted that international officials are too wrapped up in the business side of sports and have become extremely dependent on sponsors, who only care about the price of commercial time.
“If they continue operating in this way, they will bury the Olympic movement,” Putin warned, claiming that the very idea of the Olympics is failing today.
Putin also addressed calls to ban Israeli athletes from international sporting events over the Gaza war. “If I backed such proposals, I would become like these international sports officials. Sport is outside of politics. It’s meant to unite people,” the president said, adding that all athletes should be free to compete wherever they want without restrictions.
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The same principle should also be extended to Russian athletes, Putin insisted. He claimed that this is not happening because international organizations are making decisions that are detrimental to sports under the pressure of Western governments, much like European leaders are sacrificing their own interests for the benefit of the US.
As for whether Russian athletes should take part in the upcoming Summer Olympics, Putin said he has always believed that people who devote years to training should be given the chance to compete at the highest level.
He added that the restrictions imposed by the IOC, which has banned the use of Russian flags and other national identifications, are essentially meaningless because everyone still knows that the athletes are Russian.
However, Putin stated that it is important to carefully examine the IOC’s latest conditions and see whether or not these “artificial” and “politically motivated” restrictions are aimed at humiliating Russian sports and eliminating the athletes who have a chance to win medals.
If that’s the case, then the Sports Ministry and the Russian Olympic Committee must make a “weighted decision,” he said.
