Ukrainian Sports Minister Matviy Bidnyi has expressed outrage over the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to lift restrictions on Russian athletes, calling on IOC President Kirsty Coventry to visit Ukraine to see the reality of war firsthand.
'Together with all Ukrainians and the entire clean sports community worldwide, I am profoundly outraged. This decision is deeply unfair to every athlete who plays by the rules, and it is a total disrespect to the memory of hundreds of Ukrainian athletes killed by Russia,' Bidnyi wrote in exclusive comments to DW.
Bidnyi urged Coventry to come to Ukraine to 'see the reality with her own eyes.' 'I want her to stand on our train platforms and see our defenders saying goodbye to their children before leaving for the frontline. I want her to visit our ruined sports academies and meet our young athletes who have to train under missile sirens. I am absolutely convinced that after witnessing this firsthand, any talk of 'neutrality' or 'procedural compliance' would stop immediately,' he said.
In a statement released Tuesday, the IOC said the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) no longer includes regional sports organizations in territories under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee. However, Bidnyi argued that the ROC had actually excluded all 89 of its regional sports organizations, not just those in occupied Ukrainian territory.
'A direct exclusion of only Ukrainian territories would be perceived inside Russia as a sign of weakness. It would be a de facto admission that these territories do not belong to them – which is the absolute truth. I simply do not believe that the IOC fails to understand this. This is a deliberate decision to ignore reality, which completely ruins their own credibility,' he said.
Russia has been barred from international sports since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with the IOC suspending the ROC in 2023. In the 2024 Paris and 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics, some Russian athletes were allowed to compete as neutrals only if they proved they did not support the war and had no ties to Russia's military or security forces.
Bidnyi described the IOC's decision as sending 'a dangerous message of total impunity to the entire world.' He noted that since the invasion began, 688 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have been killed by Russia, and 911 sports infrastructure facilities have been damaged or destroyed.
The Ukrainian sports minister said the country will fight the IOC decision to 'defend the true values of sport.' 'The symbols of an aggressor state have no place at international sports events. We cannot allow the world to forget the cost of this war, and we will keep exposing how Russia uses sport as a tool for war propaganda,' he stated.
Disagreeing with Coventry's position that punishing athletes for government actions is unfair, Bidnyi said: 'You cannot celebrate 'human dignity' on an Olympic podium while your institution turns a blind eye to the ongoing murder of Ukrainian athletes.'
Source: www.dw.com