The IOC announced the possibility of changing the Olympic Charter for the sake of Thomas Bach

The IOC presidents’ tenure scheme, which was introduced by Jacques Rogge at the beginning of the century, is as follows: eight years and four more years in addition. Thomas Bach received the baton of the ruler of the Olympic movement before the Games in Sochi. Everything that followed in Russian sports: the triumph of the home Games, the collapse of the doping scandal, the exclusion of most athletes from the Olympic Games in Rio 2016, although the flag and anthem remained with us then, the removal of the ROC and a truncated team in Pyeongchang 2018, the absence of a flag and the anthem at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022, finally, IOC sanctions from March 2022 and the just announced new suspension of the ROC – happened under Bach.

Do we even care who heads the IOC? German Thomas Bach or, for example, Sebastian Coe from Great Britain, or Morinare Watanabe from Japan? (These two seemed to be going to the elections, however, they changed their minds. But so far, too, it seems.) Yes, Thomas Bach can, from our point of view, figuratively speaking, sit on two chairs (although in reality he is one and the same). And we don’t like it. He also says a lot, but it seems to be of little use. We also see that he is not saying what we want to hear. And in general: Bach and “it’s impossible the same way” are already united in consciousness.

Thomas Bach is not a sweetheart at all and not our hero. But everything is learned by comparison. There is no doubt that the same Coe, the President of World Athletics, who today does not give our athletes even a hint of a chance to receive neutral status from the federation to participate in international competitions, will always add a couple more sanctions to all the sanctions from himself. FIG President Watanabe, who several years ago came to the Ozero Krugloye gymnastics base and declared his love for Russian gymnastics, now, having announced the decision to allow our athletes to compete starting in January next year, is still, slowly, developing organization admission criteria.

And in general: these figures, the lords of the five rings, may be different, but only one thing remains unchanged: none of the IOC leaders will spit against the wind. And the political wind for us today is from the family of hurricanes. If Bach sits on his chairs, it won’t stop hurricanes. Is he worthy of having the Olympic Charter changed for his sake? And the political wind – it doesn’t really look into it; what it wants to sweep away, it sweeps away. Of course, it’s not a good idea to rewrite the next paragraph of the document. But if you look at the last Olympic Games without painful emotions, we still performed there: as an ROC team and with the Tchaikovsky anthem. Would a conditional Coe allow this? Hardly.

And the Algerian Mustafa Beraraf put forward a proposal to change the charter for the sake of Bach’s re-election – since under Bach’s leadership “the organization is successfully going through difficult times.” And the Algerian organized “on behalf of the NOCs of African countries” a combination of two sentences. We won’t delve deeply into it, but this is hardly an accident: first, in the name of Bach, the rules should be changed, second, athletes from Russia and Belarus should be allowed to participate in the 2024 Games. “We propose to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in the Olympic Games under certain conditions, so that the athletes do not suffer from political processes.” There are no “certain conditions” yet, but the main thing is clear – an individual neutral status for each of our athletes. If anyone goes to the Games, they will do so alone.

Winter and summer – one color

The decision on the “immediately effective” suspension “until further notice” of the Russian Olympic Committee will not affect our alleged “singles”. This was stated at the IOC session, having adopted harsh sanctions against the ROC for including into the Olympic Councils the regions that became part of Russia a year ago: the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. IOC representative Mark Adams specified: the punishment followed a violation of the Olympic Charter, since inclusion threatens “the integrity of the NOC of Ukraine.”

ROC has already been suspended – in December 2017, due to a doping scandal. The Olympic councils of Crimea and Sevastopol, which became part of the ROC in 2016, somehow did not interest the IOC at that time. After the 2018 Games, at which Russia competed in a neutral status and with only a few leaders due to the selection criteria, in which each international federation was its own master, the rights were restored.

No one can say how long the current separation from the “Olympic family” will last. This wonderful “until further notice” wording can last for years. The IOC has still not decided on the participation of Russia and Belarus in the Games, but has already stated that the decision of the executive committee will not affect (if the criteria are met) the IOC recommendations for the return of our athletes to international competitions.

It will not affect our participation in both the Summer Games in Paris 2024 and the Winter Games 2026 in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. The IOC looks at both summer and winter at once, so that no one has any doubts: even after a few years, winter sports will fall under sanctions, and the criteria will again be determined “at the appropriate time.”

And all this leads to the conclusions that were voiced in Russia even when they were suspended from competitions in March 2022: it is necessary and important to support active athletes. But the main emphasis is on forming reserves for participation in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles 2028.

Horses and people mixed together…

Los Angeles was also heard at the IOC Executive Committee. First, the Games organizing committee submitted a report proposing the inclusion of flag football (an American football with limited contact), squash, lacrosse, baseball/softball and cricket. The proposal was supported and approved by the IOC session. Breakdancing, karate, kickboxing and motorsport, which were among the contenders, were pushed aside.

“These five proposed sports are entirely consistent with American sports culture and will showcase iconic American sports to the world,” commented Thomas Bach. Lacrosse, baseball/softball and cricket were already on the Olympic program. Baseball/softball participated in the Olympics from 1992 to 2008, and was in Tokyo 2020. Cricket – as early as 1900, lacrosse – in 1904 and 1908. For Russia, this is all just information, not even something to think about.

The head of the organizing committee of the 2028 Games, Casey Wasserman, also spoke in India. And part of his speech would be funny if it did not become the clearest characteristic of what is happening in world sports today. Said the committee was proud of the United States’ ability to grant entry to every athlete on Earth. He said that “it will be so,” and even assured everyone that this “applies to every horse that is selected to participate in competitions, I know that there have been problems with this before.”

Wasserman also began his report by expressing sympathy for the residents of Ukraine and Israel. For which he immediately received a comment from a colleague from Pakistan, who said that, in his “modest opinion, in the initial report the political issue overshadowed the sports issue, which is the main one in the topic of the host country’s readiness for the Olympics.”

Shall we punish? Let’s protect!

The IOC again recalled that the organization strongly rejects calls from states for the complete suspension of Russian and Belarusian athletes. This, again, is neither good nor bad for us, the continuation of the game of some kind of tolerance after strict criteria. And Thomas Bach again stated that Russian athletes cannot be suspended – because there is nothing to do. “We do not punish athletes for the actions of their governments, our task is to protect athletes and their rights,” Bach told reporters.

He admitted that “time is not pressing” on the IOC, so the organization reserved the right to invite (at the right time, of course) neutral athletes with Russian passports. And this means “that OCD does not play a role in this matter.”

IOC Department Director James McLeod said that many sports federations have returned neutral athletes to international competitions and, in general, recently “the sports community has been in favor of the return of neutral athletes to international competitions.” In numbers, it looks like this: seven federations in summer Olympic sports allowed athletes from Russia and Belarus to have a neutral status. And five of them even held world championships with the participation of our representatives.

The director also lied a little, saying that almost all summer federations are ready to let Russians take part in their competitions. The stubborn international federations of athletics, equestrianism and surfing will definitely not agree with him. And winter sports are completely impenetrable; they are not going to rush. None of the six federations participating in the Olympic Games have issued admission.

Send to hell

Everything at the IOC is already quite predictable; the destruction of the hurricane cannot be restored quickly. And in general, more and more often I want to join those voices that, having abandoned all diplomacy, limit themselves to a few words: go to hell! Or: even if Bach is elected president until he dies, what do we care? The IOC did not surprise with its next session, it did not even wound us, and it did not shower us with hopes.

And yet – well, we should at least be happy about something, or at least just appreciate what is reasonable? Remember the former president of Croatia, who flew to the World Cup to support her team? She was not shy about being sick and even turned to our fans with a request to support the Croatian national team in the final match of the 2018 World Cup with France: “On behalf of the Croatian fans, I thank Russia for the warm welcome. You are wonderful hosts. Cheer for Croatia today. Let’s rejoice together! Thank you, Russia!”

Today, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic is the chairman of the IOC commission for choosing the venue for the Olympic Games and says that countries that prevent the participation of athletes of a certain nationality may be deprived of the right to host the Olympics. It’s not a fact that this will happen, but the words are good.