Maximum tension at the Olympics: the IOC, Putin, Jinping and the links between politics and sport

The immediacy of this era means that stopping the vertigo and sitting down to reflect is not accepted. It seems that the only thing that works is the immediate, the here and now. that’s why talk about it Paris 2024 just under 500 days after its inaugural ceremony on the Seine may seem bold. When in reality Olympism is experiencing a crucial moment in its history. Maximum tension, without fear of exaggerating. And the combo has so many explosive ingredients, you won’t be surprised when it all explodes.

He International Olympic Committee He opened a Pandora’s box when he announced he was analyzing whether Russian and Belarusian athletes could compete without a flag or anthem in the upcoming Olympic Gamesas long as they didn’t approve of war. With Ukraine leading the way, at least 40 countries have already gathered virtually to start talking about it a boycott in Paris 2024 if athletes from the country that has invaded and generated and generates death at all times in the Ukrainian territory participate. And his greatest ally. And now two very strong political-sporting moves were known Heat even more time.

World Athletics has decided that Russians and Belarusians will not compete in tournaments under their orbit. What can be read behind this resolution is simple: if they cannot participate in the competitions, the road to qualification for the Olympic Games is cut offwhich is achieved with vows stipulated in advance. Sebastian Cothe former president of the IAAF, wants to replace him Thomas Bach at the head of the IOC. And bet on tenacity. It’s very clear.

The second event of vital importance was what happened during the summit that Vladimir Putin AND Xi Jinping They stayed in Moscow. The Russian and Chinese presidents, used to not joking, signed a joint communiqué praising the IOC’s initiative to be on track to allow Russians and Belarusians to Paris 2024, while accuse the West of “using sport for improper purposes”. Sounds like a joke, but it’s so…

To all this, Bach visited Essen in his native Germany and in a speech before the Rühr Political Forum reiterated that the IOC considers it discriminatory to exclude Russians and Belarusians solely on the basis of their nationality, also reiterating that sport facilitates dialogue in times of stress.

The 200 protesters who protested outside had several questions to ask. How can Ukrainian athletes train in a bombed country? How can they take care of their mental health if they don’t know the fate of their families? How do you take seeing that some Russian athletes continue to evade decisions by international federations to display their national symbols when they are banned from competitions?

For this simple and cruel reason is that within this extreme crisis, probably the greatest hypocrisy of the “Olympic family” and the leaders of world powers It is to continue with the music that “sports and politics shouldn’t go hand in hand”.

In Germany, Bach stood in front of a lectern and said: “We know that politics rules the world, but if it decides who can participate in a competition, then sport and athletes become the tools of politics. We must be politically neutral but not apolitical”. To the ball…

In Moscow, Putin and Jinping did not hesitate to sign a statement saying: “Both sides We oppose the politicization of sport and we hope to use physical culture and sports to promote solidarity and peace. Western countries try to use sport as a means of pressure.

In times of abusive immediacy, memory does not exist and the intention is to let the memory of the past evaporate and forget that the Olympic Games were the palpable scene of the intrinsic relationship between sport and politics. As if he does not remember the face of Adolf Hitler when black jesse owens shone on Berlin 1936. as if inside Mexico 1968 there would be no raised fists from the Americans John Charles AND Tommy Smith in full Black Power. As if they forgot Munich 1972 continued as if nothing the massacre of the Black September terrorist group, which assassinated eleven members of the Israeli delegation. Or the boycotts of Moscow 1980 AND los angeles 1984 in the Cold War. Or the flagrant state doping carried out by Russia at the Winter Olympics of Members 2014. Or the “white elephants” left in the organizing cities. Or the suspicions, some proven, of buying votes to choose seats.

Sport must be a state policy. No doubt. And Argentina has that debt. But history shows that the powers that be were not left alone in this but used the achievements of their athletes for propaganda purposes and then when their useful life ends, throw them into oblivion and economic and life uncertainty.

Next week the IOC Executive Committee will discuss the future of Russians and Belarusians. His conclusions could signal an explosive schism in the near future. The Olympic Games are not just sports, come what may. There are billions at stake. Sponsorship. Marketing. Infrastructure contracts.

What’s more, the door to hell has opened for the “Olympic family”: the Shanghai Cooperation Organization wants to create a sports body that can host a sort of “parallel Olympics”, obviously with another name. On that side of the counter are Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with Iran, Afghanistan and Mongolia as observers, and informal ties with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.

Meanwhile, just 2,000 kilometers from the Eiffel Tower, bombs continue to fall and bodies are buried. And life goes on as if nothing…