“The IOC is afraid to even sneeze without the approval of certain structures” – Kommersant FM

The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee. The official reason is the inclusion of the Olympic Councils of the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions in the national committee. Kommersant FM sports commentator Vladimir Osipov looked into what this decision means.

Officials of the International Olympic Committee this time gathered in India. The next session of the IOC is taking place in Mumbai these days. Naturally, those gathered could not ignore the Russian issue, and the official representative of the organization, Mark Adams, began the press conference with a statement about the removal of the Russian Olympic Committee:

“Our decision was prompted by the statement of the ROC on October 5, according to which it recognizes as its members the regional sports organizations of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye, which are under the jurisdiction of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. This is a direct violation of the Olympic Charter, as it goes against the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine. “In this regard, the IOC has decided to suspend the membership of the Russian Olympic Committee until further notice.”

After such sanctions, the ROC, firstly, can no longer act as a national Olympic committee, and secondly, it will no longer receive funding from the Olympic movement. As for money, there are no problems with this even now, but the first item on this short list is serious, sports lawyer Artem Patsev explained to Kommersant FM:

“The main consequence of a temporary defeat of the rights of an NOC is that it does not have the right to represent its country’s athletes for the upcoming Games. This is a well-calibrated political step. I think the IOC no longer wants to enter into any confrontations either with Russia or with Western European and North American sports. The International Olympic Committee does not want to be between a rock and a hard place.”

So now the ROC has no right to form a team for the Olympics, and there will be no official delegation from Russia in Paris.

Unless, of course, the situation changes. After all, international officials reserve the right to return the Russian Olympic Committee. Most likely, they are testing the waters in order to understand whether it is necessary to invite someone from Russia or not, says Artem Patsev:

“They made this decision. Now they will look at their reaction, at the reaction in Russia, and after that they will understand whether it is even worth organizing such a team, all these filtration commissions, developing criteria.”

So the removal of the ROC from any activity related to the Olympic movement does not yet mean that none of the Russian athletes will go to the Olympics in Paris. It’s not for nothing that Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin recently spoke about a fairly serious delegation of 180 people. If the IOC decides to invite one of the Russian representatives individually, then these neutral athletes will be allowed to perform without a flag and anthem.

It seems like no one should condemn them for this. Even the president of the country said that the decision rests with the athletes: “Of course, first of all, we are guided by the interests of the athletes in this situation. Each of them has been preparing for the most important competitions for years. They have to make certain decisions for themselves.”

Another question is that under pressure from politicians, any organization can easily back down, even such powerful ones as FIFA and UEFA. And the IOC, which has long focused exclusively on political trends, is afraid to even sneeze without the approval of certain structures. So further developments will depend on the reaction of countries that we now call unfriendly. If they are against it, then no one will be invited to Paris, not even tennis players.

The ROC, in response to the suspension, of course, issued a statement that it reserves the right to protect its own interests. But few people believe that our officials can really influence the situation.

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