For the organizers of the multi-sport European Games in Krakow, Poland, the idea of Russian and Belarusian athletes participating is unthinkable in the current circumstances.
“We will sooner resign from organizing competitions in a given discipline than allow the Russians and Belarusians to stand on the starting line,” Games spokesman Dawid Glen told DW.
For some sports, however, the participation of athletes from Russia and its major ally Belarus is not only necessary to avoid what they perceive to be discrimination, it is actively desired.
“The athlete-first approach should prevail and there should be no place for politics in our sport,” said the International Boxing Association (IBA) in response to the banning of Russians and Belarusians from the Games.
The differing opinions highlight the different approaches taken by sports and competitions following the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) recommendation last month that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be allowed to return as neutrals, despite Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
DW looks at what’s at stake and how the split affects qualification for next year’s Olympics in Paris.
Why are the European Games important?
The European Games, held for the first time in Baku in 2015 and then in Minsk four years later, are a mini European version of the Olympics, managed by the Rome-based European Olympic Committees (EOC), the body which is responsible for Olympic sport in Europe. This year’s Games will take place from June 21 to July 2.
Paris 2024 places are up for grabs in 19 of the program’s 29 sports. But because of the Russian question, the Games highlighted the challenges that event organizers, sports bodies and athletes will face in the upcoming Olympics.
The EOC said the decision to exclude the Russians and Belarusians was made at the end of last year, in part because many qualifying places for the Games had already been filled.
However, Poland’s role as a host country should not be ignored. Back in February, Ukraine’s neighbor to the west was the first to talk about a possible boycott of the Paris Olympics, because it aims to build a coalition of countries to support the blocking plans of the Russians and Belarusians from international competition.
At a flame-lighting ceremony in Rome earlier this month, Polish President Andrzej Duda criticized the IOC’s stance, calling Russia an “occupier state.”
“As the host of the European Games, I can see the eye on [Ukrainian] President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and tell him: ‘Volodymyr, these Games will be Games of peace and Games of calm without pretense, without pretending that everything is fine,'” said Duda.
What did the IOC recommend in March?
Last month, the IOC detailed a “pathway” for Russian and Belarusian athletes to qualify for the Paris Olympics, expanding on recommendations first laid out in January.
According to the latest recommendations, Russians and Belarusians will return to the competition as so-called Individual Neutral Athletes, without their national flag, anthem or other symbols. “Sanctions will not be based solely on a person holding a passport from a particular country,” the IOC said, citing the athletes’ human rights.
Teams from Russia and Belarus will remain banned, as will any individual who actively supports the war (for example, by displaying the letter “Z,” a Russian military symbol) or who is contracted by the military.
Ultimately, however, the decision and implementation rests with each international sports federation, with the IOC suggesting that the federations should come together and create “an independent panel” to assess which athletes have achieved ot the criteria or not. It is unclear how this will work in practice, with IOC critics unimpressed.
“The farcical facade of neutrality and discriminatory exclusion used by the IOC to justify and justify its decision is misleading and lacks sufficient evidence,” Rob Koehler, head of the global athlete-led movement, told DW .
How will the Russians and Belarusians qualify for Paris?
The qualification process for the Paris Olympics varies depending on the sport. Some places are based on performance at a specific event; others are based on ranking over time or meeting a certain qualification standard.
With the games continuing their ban, the door to Paris seems closed. Take athletics as an example. Although many places are allocated in the national Olympic trials to individual countries (obviously the Russians can compete in Russia), the governing body World Athletics has the final say on the entry list.
“For clarity, World Athletics (and all international sports federations) have priority over the eligibility of athletes for the Olympic Games,” World Athletics told DW in a statement. “The National Olympic Committee selects their national teams from the IFs athletes [international federations] considered qualified and eligible. These are two different criteria. “
Fencing’s decision to move to a different path brought its own problems. Several World Cup events in Europe, which also serve as Olympic qualifiers, were canceled after it became clear that Russians and Belarusians would not be allowed to enter the host countries.
For some sports, Asia has been targeted as a possible qualifying destination for Russian and Belarusian athletes who have been shut out of European events. The Asian Games in September, Asia’s equivalent of the European Games, has been put forward as one such option.
On the other hand, taekwondo, another sport that gave a greenlight to the return of Russians and Belarusians, will hold its world championships at the end of May in Azerbaijan, a Russia-friendly country. The championships are part of the qualification criteria for the Olympics.
What will governments say?
Last week, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, whose portfolio includes sport, told German newspaper publishing group Funke Media that Russian athletes may not be able to enter Germany.
“Countries where major sporting events take place are not powerless,” he said. “They can control by issuing visas whether Russians can participate.”
Faeser previously described the IOC’s recommendation to admit the Russians and Belarusians as “a slap in the face to Ukrainian athletes.” Such interventions were labeled “pathetic” by IOC President Thomas Bach.
In fact, Bach’s organization doesn’t take too kindly to politicians mixing in the sport. In an extensive Q&A document on the Olympics website, it stressed that governments should not decide which athletes can or cannot compete, writing: “This is the end of international sport as we know it. .”
But as far as Global Athlete head Koehler is concerned, the IOC should listen more to those it claims to represent.
“Thousands of athletes are calling for the IOC to continue the ban on Russia and Belarus with a full suspension of international sport. […] until Russia completely leaves Ukraine,” he said.
Edited by: James Thorogood