Letting Russia return to Olympics is to collude in slaughter of Ukrainians
Not to be outdone by squalid antics of Infantino, the IOC made my stomach lurch when I found out they had been readmitted for 2028 Los Angel
One is dragged reluctantly, almost with a sense of horror, to write about the men and women who see themselves as the guardians of sport but who are involved in some grotesque competition of their own. Who can be more unscrupulous? Who can more cravenly distort what sport is supposed to be about? Who can more graphically place venality, power and greed above whatever ideals still exist in these invented games?
It was seen as a watershed when Gianni Infantino took a call from Donald Trump objecting to the suspension of a star player (although admitting his ignorance of the meaning of a red card), only for Fifa to overturn the suspension. This wasn’t “merely” Fifa awarding competitions to nations on the basis of rigged votes but a decision that could affect what happens on the field of play....
...But, then, not to be outdone, up pops the IOC to lift its suspension on Russia, a nation that has not just systematically doped its athletes but also wages a pitiless and illegal war on a neighbour, bombing indiscriminately, raping women, mutilating prisoners and kidnapping children. The IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, a woman who curried favour with the Mugabe regime, revealing the absence of any moral compass, justified this on sporting grounds, in effect saying that it isn’t fair for Russian athletes to be disadvantaged by the actions of their government.
I felt my stomach lurch when reading this pretext for the readmission, the naked inversion of ethical logic, the smooth attempt to turn right into wrong. Russian athletes must not be disadvantaged by their government, she says, while Ukrainian athletes are bombed, targeted and subject to mass murder by the same government? Russian athletes can return to the grand stage — their victories milked by this century’s Hitler — while the sporting infrastructure of Ukraine is bombed to smithereens, its facilities destroyed, its talent wiped out?
Does Coventry have the faintest idea what is happening in the world she claims to speak for? Does she know about Yuri Orlov, a hockey player who earlier this year was killed after his home was struck by a Russian missile; Victoria Kotlyarova, a Ukrainian footballer who was killed in a devastating attack on Kyiv; Arina Shnabska, a brilliant young taekwondo fighter who was killed in Kherson when Russian occupiers opened fire?...
...Let us be clear: Russia will have an advantage on the field of play because they are wiping out the competition, even discounting that the head of their anti-doping commission is alleged to have been involved in covering up failed tests.
Letting Russia return to Olympics is to collude in slaughter of Ukrainians
Not to be outdone by squalid antics of Infantino, the IOC made my stomach lurch when I found out they had been readmitted for 2028 Los Angel
One is dragged reluctantly, almost with a sense of horror, to write about the men and women who see themselves as the guardians of sport but who are involved in some grotesque competition of their own. Who can be more unscrupulous? Who can more cravenly distort what sport is supposed to be about? Who can more graphically place venality, power and greed above whatever ideals still exist in these invented games?
It was seen as a watershed when Gianni Infantino took a call from Donald Trump objecting to the suspension of a star player (although admitting his ignorance of the meaning of a red card), only for Fifa to overturn the suspension. This wasn’t “merely” Fifa awarding competitions to nations on the basis of rigged votes but a decision that could affect what happens on the field of play....
...But, then, not to be outdone, up pops the IOC to lift its suspension on Russia, a nation that has not just systematically doped its athletes but also wages a pitiless and illegal war on a neighbour, bombing indiscriminately, raping women, mutilating prisoners and kidnapping children. The IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, a woman who curried favour with the Mugabe regime, revealing the absence of any moral compass, justified this on sporting grounds, in effect saying that it isn’t fair for Russian athletes to be disadvantaged by the actions of their government.
I felt my stomach lurch when reading this pretext for the readmission, the naked inversion of ethical logic, the smooth attempt to turn right into wrong. Russian athletes must not be disadvantaged by their government, she says, while Ukrainian athletes are bombed, targeted and subject to mass murder by the same government? Russian athletes can return to the grand stage — their victories milked by this century’s Hitler — while the sporting infrastructure of Ukraine is bombed to smithereens, its facilities destroyed, its talent wiped out?
Does Coventry have the faintest idea what is happening in the world she claims to speak for? Does she know about Yuri Orlov, a hockey player who earlier this year was killed after his home was struck by a Russian missile; Victoria Kotlyarova, a Ukrainian footballer who was killed in a devastating attack on Kyiv; Arina Shnabska, a brilliant young taekwondo fighter who was killed in Kherson when Russian occupiers opened fire?...
...Let us be clear: Russia will have an advantage on the field of play because they are wiping out the competition, even discounting that the head of their anti-doping commission is alleged to have been involved in covering up failed tests.
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