The insidethegames.biz Magazine Spring Edition 2022 by Dunsar Media Company Limited

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Spring Edition 2022

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Contents

Published: May 2022 by Dunsar Media Company Limited

Introduction

Editor: Duncan Mackay

Punishing the Kremlin

Magazine Editor: Dan Palmer Managing Director: Sarah Bowron Design: Elliot Willis Willis Design Associates Pictures: Getty Images Staff headshots: Karen Kodish Print: www.csfprint.com Dunsar Media Suite 9-15, 4th Floor Acorn House Midsummer Boulevard Central Milton Keynes MK9 3HP. Great Britain contact@insidethegames.biz www.insidethegames.biz No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without prior written permission of the publisher. Data is published in good faith and is the best information possessed by Dunsar Media Company Limited at the stated date of publication. The publisher cannot accept any liability for errors or omissions, however caused. Errors brought to the attention of the publisher and verified to the satisfaction of the publisher will be corrected in future editions, if any.

Duncan Mackay

Mike Rowbottom

Breaking up with Russia Duncan Mackay

Life in the Loop Michael Pavitt

The Shadow of War Philip Barker

Standing With Ukraine Leticia Bila

Youth and Experience Geoff Berkeley

The World Heads to Uni Michael Houston

Willkommen Europe! Mike Rowbottom

The Right Choice Mike Rowbottom

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n February 24, Vladimir Putin launched the Russian invasion of Ukraine to widespread condemnation from across

the world. The International Olympic Committee, which had just overseen the highly controversial Beijing 2022 Winter Games, was immediately plunged into its next major crisis. If Putin expected an easy ride from his friends in sport, who had previously been so quick to cosy up to him and have their pictures taken, then he was to be mistaken. A scathing statement from the IOC dropped into inboxes on the very same day the invasion began, which scolded Russia for breaking the Olympic Truce. On February 28, the IOC went a step further and recommended that athletes from Russia and Belarus be banned from international competitions. The situation could not have been more different from the Opening Ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, when IOC President Thomas Bach and Putin were seen clinking champagne glasses. Russian athletes - it was made clear were no longer welcome at sport’s top table. International Federations quickly towed the IOC line and announced their own bans. In this latest issue of The insidethegames.biz Magazine, chief feature writer Mike Rowbottom takes us through how sport has punished Russia since the invasion began. Editorial intern Leticia Bila tells the story of how athletes - particularly those from Ukraine - have reacted to the conflict and how they have made their voices heard.

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There are, of course, two sides to every story and some Russian athletes have been impacted by the sanctions despite carrying no fault themselves. I have brought together the other side of the story, to find out what the view is in Moscow. War is nothing new for the Olympic Movement, with conflict often rearing its ugly head and spilling over into the organisation of sporting events. Historian Philip Barker takes a look at the times shelling and bombing has taken the focus away from the action on the field. If it was not for the invasion, Beijing 2022 would likely have featured more heavily in this magazine. The build-up to the Winter Olympics in China included numerous questions and debate about the host nation’s human rights record, and the Games themselves proved to be just as dramatic. It was insidethegames.biz which exclusively broke the major story to emerge from Beijing - that 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva had failed a drugs test. Our team in China were accosted by Russian journalists after our story was published, and we even received death threats online. But when it was confirmed that what we had written was true, the news quickly developed into one of the all-time major Olympic stories. Valieva, who was sensational in guiding her country to gold in the team event, was the heavy favourite in the women’s competition. After the Court of Arbitration for Sport allowed her to compete, it was tough to witness the youngster fall apart during her free skating, as she tumbled from first place to out of the medals. If this was not enough drama, Beijing 2022 was also the backdrop for the re-emergence of Peng Shaui, the Chinese tennis player who disappeared from public view to great concern after accusing a senior official of sexual assault. Senior reporter Michael Pavitt was one of our team in Beijing for the Games, where he

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experienced the “closed loop” system designed to combat the spread of COVID-19. In these pages he tells us about his experience. Valieva’s story brought the issue of age limits in sport to the fore, particularly in figure skating. As senior reporter Geoff Berkeley explains, while the athletes on the ice are often still children, a number of officials running the sport are in their senior years. We will also be using this magazine to preview two major events on the 2022 calendar. Mike Rowbottom looks ahead to the European Championships in Munich - the second instalment of the unique multi-sport event. Reporter Michael Houston sets the scene for the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, a destination which has strong links to track and field and sports giant Nike, and is no stranger to controversy. If you enjoy this magazine and our yearround coverage of the Olympic Movement, I would like to invite you to make a contribution to support our journalism at www.insidethegames.biz/contribute. Every donation, however big or small, will help maintain and improve our work across the world in the years ahead. We believe that Olympic news, such as our Valieva exclusive, should remain in the public sphere and be free of charge to read. Our team has recently received three nominations for the 2021 International Sports Press Association Awards, for Pavitt, Dan Palmer and Liam Morgan, and your support would be greatly appreciated. Enjoy the magazine.

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Russia has been shut out of global sport following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. But with legal challenges on the way it has been a complex issue, as Mike Rowbottom explains.

ussia began its invasion of Ukraine with Belarus allowing additional access via its border - on February 24. The incursion convulsed the world, and the world of sport also. International Federations and representative bodies hastened - in the main - to enact their own version of the political and economic sanctions being applied to the Kremlin by numerous different nations. One of the critical early factors in determining the nature of this reaction was the recommendation announced on February 28 by the International Olympic Committee, which said that athletes from Russia and Belarus should be banned from all international sporting events. The IOC also withdrew the Olympic Order from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko and Kremlin deputy chief of staff Dmitry Kozak. The IOC made it clear it would not normally seek to punish athletes for the decisions of a Government if they were not actively participating in them.

But it said the war in Ukraine was an exceptional circumstance and the IOC Executive Board had made the decision in order to “protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all participants”. Russia and Belarus were additionally condemned for breaking the Olympic Truce. At the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, IOC President Thomas Bach had called for politicians to follow the example of athletes and “give peace a chance”. Four days later, the invasion began. “Sometimes you wish you could do more and this was the wish I expressed in the Closing Ceremony,” Bach said on March 3. “Then you see that all the efforts were for nothing, that this inspiration was not strong enough, and then it’s horrifying. “It's really horrifying. “Again, we are coming to our limits. We have no police force, we have no military. “We can offer moral support and help to shed light on this situation, but there our influence ends.” There was an irony to this. At Rio 2016, the International Paralympic Committee, as

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voiced by its passionate President, Sir Philip Craven, banned Russian athletes from participation in the wake of the stateorchestrated doping regime revealed to have been in operation during Sochi 2014. Branding the regime’s actions as “abhorrent”, Sir Philip added: “Their medals over morals mentality disgusts me.” The IPC’s position contrasted starkly with that taken by the IOC, which chose to defer the decision over the extent of participation by Russian athletes at Rio 2016 to individual sports. This meant many of them were able to take part in the Olympics. Two years later, there was more criticism of the IOC as it allowed Russian athletes to compete neutrally at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics. It then lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee just three days after the Games had ended. The IPC, by then under the Presidency of Andrew Parsons, maintained its ban during Pyeongchang 2018. In 2022, however, it was the IOC which upped the ante while the IPC appeared to drag its feet.

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Vladimir Putin's beloved judo is one of the sports which has sanctioned Russia. Photo: Getty Images

In a weird type of mirror-image of what happened at Rio 2016, the IPC moved to the opposite side as it initially announced, on March 2, that Russian and Belarus athletes would be able to compete at Beijing 2022, albeit under the Paralympic flag and without being included in the medals table. “In deciding what actions the IPC should take, it was fundamental that we worked within the framework of our new constitution to remain politically neutral and within the IPC Handbook, the rules and regulations that govern the Paralympic Movement,” said Parsons. The very next day, the IPC position hardened as it announced that Russian and Belarus athletes would not be allowed to compete at Beijing 2022 after all. This U-turn came after multiple National Paralympic Committees threatened a boycott, forcing the IPC Governing Board into a change. Parsons said nations were “likely to withdraw” if the two teams were not banned, and claimed there would not be a “viable Games”. He added that the environment in the Paralympic Villages was worsening as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, with many countries taking issue with the IPC’s original stance. The unequivocal IOC statement triggered a number of similar announcements from IFs in the following days. On March 1 World Athletics, which had already said it was “appalled” by developments in Ukraine and had condemned “the Russian military invasion”, announced that Russian and Belarus athletes would be excluded “for the foreseeable future” from competition. The decision took “immediate effect” and meant no athletes from the countries were able to take part at the impending World Indoor Championships in Belgrade. The Russian Athletics Federation was already serving a ban which was imposed in November 2015 following the revelations of state-sponsored doping. www.facebook.com/insidethegames

On the same day, the International Skating Union joined the list of IFs in banning Russian and Belarus athletes from its competitions. Governing bodies representing rugby, sailing, baseball/softball, badminton, skiing, modern pentathlon, canoeing, equestrian, surfing and triathlon all arrived at the same position. World Archery and the International Table Tennis Federation also confirmed that Russian and Belarus athletes and officials would not be able to participate in their upcoming events. On March 2, the European Olympic Committees said it had “with reluctance” banned Russian and Belarus athletes and officials from the Winter European Youth Olympic Festival in Finland, which took place from March 20 to 25. It cited a desire to protect participants’ wellbeing and the “integrity” of the event. The International Weightlifting Federation confirmed on March 3 that it had suspended the participation of all athletes and officials from the two nations until further notice, and also banned sanctioned events in the countries. On March 26, the Munich 2022 European Championships Board said it had decided not to allow the participation of Russian and Belarus athletes and officials at its event. The decision was taken after consulting with the nine participating federations, representing athletics, volleyball, canoeing, cycling, gymnastics, rowing, sport climbing, table tennis and triathlon. Formula One terminated its contract with the Russian Grand Prix, which had been set for September 25 at the Olympic Park in Sochi. Russian F1 driver Nikita Mazepin was also fired from the Haas team. “I do not feel this is fair,” he said. The IOC stance may have been influential in prompting a shift of the original position being held by FIFA, football’s international body. But the robust statements issued by the football associations of Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic provided even more leverage. FIFA’s initial stance following the invasion was to restrict the Russian national team to playing under the banner of the “Russian Football Union”. But Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic all said they would refuse to play them in upcoming play-offs for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Polish Football Association President Cezary Kulesza described FIFA’s measures as “unacceptable”. Soon afterwards, FIFA concurred with that position and the Russian team was banned from competition. @insidethegames.biz

Russia’s effective exclusion from the World Cup came just four years after it had hosted FIFA’s marquee event. FIFA President Gianni Infantino was awarded Russia’s Order of Friendship medal in 2019, as a thank you for his contribution to the tournament the year before. Infantino called it “the best World Cup ever” but has recently come under fire for his close relationship with Putin. On March 30, an apparent unsteadiness of the FIFA stance became apparent as it was criticised for allowing Russian officials to attend its annual Congress in Qatar. A Russian bid to temporarily lift the ban on its teams was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which cited "competition integrity and safety issues". Other major IFs operated in a similar manner to FIFA with regards to sanctions on Russian competitors, by shifting to tougher positions due to the weight of opinion within their sports.

Russian Formula One driver Nikita Mazepin was removed by Haas. Photo: Getty Images

On March 8, the International Swimming Federation announced Russian and Belarus athletes would be allowed to compete as neutrals, with FINA claiming it had a legally robust option to exclude them “if their attendance threatens the safety and wellbeing of athletes or places the conduct of competition at risk”. This position had shifted by March 23 when FINA agreed to ban athletes from Russia and Belarus from competing in any of its events, following a review of an independent risk assessment.

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No Russian athletes were able to compete at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Belgrade. Photo: Getty Images

Several countries had threatened to boycott the World Championships if athletes from the two countries were allowed to compete in Budapest. The International Gymnastics Federation also got itself into difficulty after it announced on March 4 that it would ban Russian and Belarus athletes from its competitions - but only from March 7. Unfortunately for FIG, a World Cup that took place in Doha from March 4 to 5 - the last where Russian and Belarus gymnasts could take part - did not pass without controversy. Russia’s parallel bars bronze medallist Ivan Kuliak appeared on the podium sporting a “Z” symbol on his chest, that denoted support for his country’s actions in Ukraine. Kuliak, who was subjected to immediate disciplinary action after what FIG described as “shocking behaviour”, said he would have done the same again if he had the choice. On March 18, double Olympic swimming champion Evgeny Rylov was one of eight athletes identified as wearing the same “Z” symbol at a pro-war rally hosted by Putin at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, the main venue for the 1980 Olympics which also hosted the FIFA World Cup final in 2018. Although skiing was among the IFs banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing at its events on March 1, the FIS did so only after pressure from the Norwegian Ski Federation to respond to the IOC recommendation. Norway, frustrated with the original FIS stance, told the global governing body it would stop Russians and Belarusians competing at any World Cups it hosted, as www.facebook.com/insidethegames

well as the Ski Flying World Championships, regardless of the FIS position. Both organisations now share the same stance, with the FIS Council deciding that Russian and Belarus athletes could not compete at any event until at least the end of the season. It had already cancelled every remaining World Cup competition in Russia. “Over the last few days we at the Norwegian Ski Federation have been working intensely, and I am very satisfied that the FIS Council now have concluded that Russia and Belarus are excluded from upcoming events,” Norwegian Ski Federation President Erik Røste said. On March 29, the International Biathlon Union somewhat belatedly joined the majority of its fellow IFs by announcing a ban on Russian and Belarus competitors. The position will be reviewed by the IBU

Congress from September 15 to 19 this year, if the ban has not already been lifted by the IBU Executive Board. The IBU was joined in making a late call by World Skate, which hardened its stance on April 2. The move to ban athletes for the actions of their Government will always carry a degree of moral uncertainty. Is it correct in any circumstances? If so, how serious do those circumstances need to be? The reaction by international sporting bodies to the Russian military action has been almost universally condemnatory, but policies have not always been popular. For instance, while the Norwegian Ski Federation’s forthright actions were so influential in shifting the position of its international organisation, there was dissent from one of the country’s leading sports administrators.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has been criticised for his relationship with Vladimir Putin. Photo: Getty Images

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The International Boxing Association has claimed it cannot completely end its contract with Russian gas giant Gazprom. Photo: Getty Images

Øyvind Watterdal resigned from the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports Board in protest at the ban. Watterdal cited a lack of consultation with the Athletes’ Committee, and added: “It is a decision that is in sharp conflict with my values and perception of what sports should be.” While organisations such as FIFA, FINA and the IPC have been effectively cajoled into hardening their positions vis-à-vis Russian and Belarus athletes, other IFs have maintained a more nuanced - or weaker, depending on your point of view - position. The International Judo Federation representing the sport that is perhaps closest to Putin’s heart - adopted a rigorous but more complex position in their bold announcement on February 27, the day before the IOC’s big reveal. Despite how close Putin is to judo, Marius Vizer, the IJF President, announced that he would be stripped of his status as Honorary President of the Federation and his ally Arkady Rotenberg was ditched as development director on the Executive Board. All IJF events in Russia were also cancelled, but the country’s athletes, and those of Belarus, were allowed to continue competing as neutrals. As it turned out, Russia withdrew from international judo events on March 14, saying it feared for its competitors’ safety. The Russian Judo Federation also admitted that, following the invasion of Ukraine, it would be difficult for athletes to obtain entry to several countries. In a move similar to that of the IJF, World Taekwondo stripped Putin of an honorary black belt they had presented him and also banned athletes after initially only barring flags and national anthems.

The political situation has been particularly intractable for the International Boxing Association, which is currently striving to reclaim the Olympic role which was removed before Tokyo 2020 following years of governance that was catastrophically bad to the point of corruption and financial collapse. IBA President Umar Kremlev was formerly the secretary general of the Russian Boxing Federation, so the announcement that the IF would follow the prompting of the IOC banning Russian and Belarus boxers and cancelling events planned in the countries provoked widespread censure back home. The decision nevertheless underlined the seriousness with which the IBA is seeking to reassure the IOC that it is an organisation fit enough to resume its Olympic role in time for Paris 2024.

The IBA position was revealed to be more excruciating on March 21, however, when it claimed it was “not currently possible to completely cancel” its controversial but crucially lucrative sponsorship deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom. IBA secretary general István Kovács issued a letter, obtained by insidethegames, to the heads of all of its National Federations where he highlighted the importance of Gazprom in ensuring the future of the worldwide governing body. “You will also be aware that, thanks to its partnership with Gazprom, IBA has been able to effectively support National Federations, competitions and athletes, while also settling the debts that had threatened our future and transforming our organisation,” Kovács, who won bantamweight gold at Atlanta 1996, wrote. “It is not currently possible to completely cancel the Gazprom contract.” Tennis, like judo, has chosen to censure officials while allowing athletes to continue to compete as neutrals. This has given players such as Daniil Medvedev the opportunity to offer their views on the current Russian incursion to a worldwide audience. Medvedev, who has reached world number one this year, was relatively prudent when asked about the situation but did insist: “I’m all for peace”. Women’s Tennis Association chief executive Steve Simon strongly defended the decision to allow Russian and Belarus players to remain in competition.

Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev has been able to continue playing. Photo: Getty Images

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Ukraine's team pose at the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics, where Russia was banned. Photo: Getty Images

“I feel very, very strongly that again these individual athletes should not be the ones that are being penalised by the decisions of an authoritarian leadership that is obviously doing terrible, reprehensible things,” he said. Russian and Belarus players have been banned from appearing at Wimbledon, however, following a decision made by the All England Lawn Tennis Club. The International Cycling Union stance took the same form as the one adopted within tennis. The UCI said on March 1 that it had taken a decision “based on obtaining a balance of all interests” after banning all teams and sponsors from Russia and Belarus, and stripping both countries of scheduled events. Individual cyclists were still able to compete as neutrals.

Support has flooded in for Ukraine while Russians have been frozen out. Photo: Getty Images

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The International Sambo Federation, a Russian sport, has adopted a similar stance to the UCI, although it has come under pressure from the Sambo Federation of Ukraine to ban Russian and Belarus athletes completely. On March 10, it was reported that 16-year-old Ukrainian national junior sambo champion Artem Pryimenko had been killed along with his father, mother, grandmother and two brothers during a Russian airstrike carried out on the town of Sumy. Inevitably, there have been details and discrepancies within IF policies that have led to confusion and controversy. Weightlifting’s stance drew predictable criticism from Russia’s Maxim Agapitov, a member of the IWF Executive Board, who said the IF had been pressured into imposing an “absolutely discriminatory” ban by the IOC. “Sport must remain out of politics, any discrimination is unacceptable, these principles are registered in the Olympic Charter,” Agapitov said. “Athletes have always acted as peacekeepers, and sport becomes the basis for mutual understanding in the spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.” However, the Ukrainian Weightlifting Federation has demanded to know if Agapitov - who has said he plans to run for the IWF Presidency - has been allowed to remain active within the organisation. @insidethegames.biz

Ashley Metcalfe, chief executive of British Weight Lifting, wrote to the IWF leadership to say its statement “seems to still allow representatives of these countries to hold positions of power within our sport and influence the future decision-making process, which cannot be appropriate or acceptable”. “In line with your desire to preserve the integrity of our sport, can you please confirm in an open, public and transparent manner that this is not the case?” he added Ursula Papandrea, the former Interim President of the IWF who is now international director of USA Weightlifting, said on March 12: “The ban’s essence will be undermined if exceptions are made for IWF officials and representatives of Russia or Belarus, namely Board, Committee and Commission members.” While World Athletics was one of the most important and early movers in terms of imposing a ban on Russian and Belarus competitors, it has accepted the submission from the chair of its Russian Taskforce, Rune Andersen, to continue working for the restoration of the Russian Athletics Federation to international competitions following the 2015 ban. It is a parlous and complex situation - and Russian legal challenges are in the offing...

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BREAKING UP WITH RUSSIA Vladimir Putin had many friends in sport but now those who were so quick to praise him are swiftly trying to cut ties. Duncan Mackay explores the view from Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine.

or many years, Vladimir Putin had been sport’s favourite world leader. Wanted somewhere to hold your event? Then the Russian President was usually extremely happy to roll out the hospitality for you. Needed a sponsor to help keep the wheels moving? State energy provider Gazprom or one of the banks backed by oligarchs could be persuaded to write a big cheque. Looking for some stardust sprinkled over your World Championships? Then Putin himself would be happy to turn up if you thanked him in the appropriate way. In fact, Putin’s trophy cabinet at the Kremlin was overflowing with awards and honours. From Olympic Orders to black belts and the badges of honorary roles awarded to him by International Federations, every governing body wanted to show their appreciation to a man who has always championed his love of sport. It must, therefore, have been something of a shock to Putin when, after the invasion of Ukraine, these same federations began stripping him of the honours they had been falling over themselves to award only a few years earlier.

The International Olympic Committee led the way by stripping Putin of its “highest honour,” the Olympic Order, which it had given to him in 2001. This was only a year after he was elected as Russian President for the first time. The International Judo Federation had made Putin its Honorary President, World Taekwondo had given him an honorary black belt and the International Swimming Federation had awarded him the “FINA Order” in recognition of his contribution to “the fraternity between nations”. Putin has lost them all now. It signalled the end of the Olympic Movement’s love-affair with a man who, in the memorable phrase of the German journalist Jens Weinreich, had led the IOC around the ring by the nose for the past 15 years. In 2007, Putin turned up at the IOC Session in Guatemala and persuaded the delegates to award the 2014 Winter Olympics to Sochi, a resort which at the time had only one functioning ski lift. The IOC was quick to condemn Putin and urge IFs to act, but beyond stripping him and other key Russian Government officials of awards it has bestowed on them, has refused to take any meaningful action.

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Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov is among officials who have come under pressure in their sporting roles. Photo: Getty Images

It has not removed the Russian Olympic Committee from the Olympic Movement. Instead, it has urged IFs to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes, passing the responsibility for action on to others. Such a move is unsurprising, given the IOC’s past tolerance for Russian abuses, particularly when it comes to doping. Plenty of people believe that the refusal by the likes of IOC and FIFA Presidents Thomas Bach and Gianni Infantino to fully confront Putin over issues as diverse as doping and gay rights helped embolden him and made him believe he could get away with what he wanted, culminating in his invasion of Ukraine. Little wonder then if Putin has been left bewildered at the speed with which his “friends” have turned their back on him. Trade sanctions will clearly hit Russia over time, but the withdrawal of major sports events from the country and blocking its athletes from competing internationally is the most immediate manifestation of the world’s anger with Moscow. In turn, Putin has raged against how sport has quickly turned Russia into a pariah state. “Russia has constantly warned its partners against using double standards and the principle of collective responsibility in sports,” Putin said during a special televised ceremony in the Kremlin to honour Russia’s Olympic medallists from Beijing 2022. “Guided by the Olympic Charter, we are convinced that the Games are not competitions of countries, but of athletes. “We remain open to broad, constructive interaction with everyone who values sports principles. “The great traditions of national sports will be continued and multiplied. We will make every effort to ensure the rights of our athletes, we will hold competitions open to all our friends and true partners. www.facebook.com/insidethegames

“For Russia, there are no unfriendly countries in sports. We are happy to welcome everyone who stands for sport without discrimination and artificial restrictions, for its ideals of justice, equality and fair competition.” For Putin, sport has been a vital and high-profile arm of Russian foreign policy ever since he was elected, which makes it all the more laughable when he leads calls for an end to the “politicisation of sport”. The cynical way in which the Kremlin has weaponised sport, particularly through its state-sponsored doping programme, will leave a scar on the Olympic Movement for generations to come. Even before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia had not been able to participate fully in the Olympics since it hosted them at Sochi 2014, because of sanctions imposed as a result of its illegal doping scheme. But athletes like double Olympic fencing champion Sofya Velikaya, the chair of the ROC Athletes’ Commission, have perpetuated the belief that Russian athletes are being unfairly targeted. “We went to Tokyo under the flag of the ROC,” she said. “We all the time hoped that the restrictions and pressure that were put in our direction would end. But it only grew. “Everyone should be on an equal footing - to perform under their own flag and with their own anthem. Now the Olympic Movement is a

big question. Until equal conditions are created, I would not go to the Games.” ROC President Stanislav Pozdnyakov, a four-time Olympic fencing gold medallist, has been among Russian officials forced to resign or step down temporarily from roles within international organisations. Also the President of the European Fencing Confederation, a motion of no confidence was placed on him following the attack on Ukraine. “We are witnessing more and more naked attempts to bypass, and, in fact, violate, the foundations of the continental, if you like, European legal tradition, and simply legality,” he said. “When, for the sake of politicised orders, punitive measures on a national basis became possible, contrary to accepted international norms, regulations and rules. “This testifies to nothing else but degradation - both professional and ideological. First of all, of the management system and the foundations of legal regulation. It is increasingly being replaced by directive, Euro bureaucratic law. “Even in such a situation, we will continue to defend the rights of Russian athletes and our federations. The conceptual, frankly biased, approach will end sooner or later, and we will prepare for this moment, including in the legal plane.” Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, the former President and

Russian athletes, seen here meeting Vladimir Putin, may be unable to speak out against the war. Photo: Getty Images

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The sporting world, including IOC President Thomas Bach, previously had a cosy relationship with Vladimir Putin. Photo: Getty Images

chief executive of Sochi 2014, was, along with Putin, stripped by the IOC of his Olympic Order. He has claimed that the way sport is treating Russia will set a dangerous precedent. "The IOC takes its decision to present the Olympic Order on merits directly related to the Games," Chernyshenko told insidethegames in March. "Just as it does medals to competitors in the Games themselves. "In Russia only five people, including the President, have therefore been presented with the Golden Order. Unlike the proper decision that took place in advance of awarding these honours, the impulsive posturing behind their

Sofya Velikaya has said she will no longer attend the Olympics due to the restrictions against Russia. Photo: Getty Images

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revocation simply aligns the Olympics to political ends, undermining the spirit of the Games and the never-before-seen success of the Sochi Games. "The IOC has opened a Pandora’s box to be exploited by historical revisionists, and all sport should be concerned by its eager willingness to do so." Unless you are stuck in Russia, it is impossible for someone thousands of miles away to appreciate the dilemma athletes there currently face. They know condemning the invasion will lead, not only to the end of their careers, but will certainly endanger them and their families. Zenit Saint Petersburg and Russian goalkeeper Stanislav Kritsyuk is one of the few who have spoken out on the subject. In a short message, posted shortly after the invasion, he said: “All these days I, like many of us, are restless in my soul. It would be possible to find an excuse - ‘sport is out of politics’ - and focus on training. But this is just an attempt to deceive yourself. “Because I am not only a football player, but also a person, a citizen, a father, a son. And I am against anyone suffering and dying. To the world - peace, any human life is a value, clear skies above everyone's heads! This is how I was taught from childhood.” @insidethegames.biz

But Kritsyuk’s team-mate Artem Dzyuba, Russia's captain, refused to condemn the aggression and, in response to calls for him to speak out about the situation, posted a strident message on Instagram. “I am not afraid that I am Russian,” he wrote. “I'm proud to be Russian. And I don't understand why athletes have to suffer now. I am against double standards. Why is it that one can do everything, and they hang all dogs on us? “Why has everyone shouted about sports staying outside of politics but, at the first opportunity, when it comes to Russia, this principle is completely forgotten? “I repeat, war is scary. In stressful situations, people show their true essence, sometimes negative. “How much anger, dirt and bile has now been poured on all Russian people, regardless of their position and profession? “Those thousands of people write insults and threats. “It is doubly strange to hear all this from people to whom Russia has given very, very much in their lives. All this only creates more negativity. “The war will end but human relations will remain, and it will be impossible to rewind back. Keep this in mind.”

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WHERE IS PENG SHUAI?

LIFE IN THE L

The International Olympic Committee endured a tumultuous build-up to Beijing 2022 and the Games were no less awkward. Michael Pavitt experienced China’s closed loop system and there was plenty of high drama.

nternational Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach declared that “China was writing a new chapter in sporting history” during the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. The Chinese capital was on the cusp of becoming the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games, and its Government had boldly claimed that 346 million people had become winter sport enthusiasts since the event was awarded in 2015. I asked Bach at his opening press conference what the message of the Games would be, given that Beijing 2008 was widely claimed to be China’s “coming out” party. “China is a winter sports country,” came Bach’s short response. In truth, there was not a lot else for the IOC to cling to. The general impression was it was keen to get out of Beijing and forget about a Games where there was a headache at every turn. The IOC had clung desperately to the Olympic Truce resolution, signed by all 193 United Nations member states, as justification that

the Games enjoyed strong support in the international community. The organisation repeatedly declared that it needed to remain “politically neutral”. This pretence came despite a widespread diplomatic boycott of the Games due to the host nation facing accusations of genocide against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province, alongside a clampdown on human rights in Tibet and Hong Kong. China’s response was clear during the Opening Ceremony. Cross-country skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang, a Uyghur from Xinjiang, joined Nordic combined athlete Zhao Jiawen to light the snowflake cauldron for the Games. Organisers claimed she was part of a concept where athletes from different decades were selected to carry the Torch. But the decision was largely viewed as China raising two fingers to the Governments who had decided to shun their event. Russian President Vladimir Putin was among the few world leaders to make the trip, with his attendance at the Opening Ceremony

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Dinigeer Yilamujiang, left, a Uyghur Muslim, was one of the athletes who ignited the Beijing 2022 Olympic Flame. Photo: Getty Images

coming hours after a meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Their meeting will likely be scrutinised in the future given Russia’s subsequent invasion of Ukraine, although China has denied prior knowledge of the offensive after claims it requested a delay until the end of the Olympics. The political undercurrent of the Games exploded when Beijing 2022 spokesperson Yan Jiarong seized the opportunity of the final joint IOC press conference to outline China’s true position. Until then, organisers had played along with the façade that the event was politically neutral. “I think these questions are based on lies,” Yan said, when asked about forced labour in Xinjiang. She earlier repeated a “solemn position” that there was “one China in the world” when the subject of Taiwan was raised. A Chinese official sitting in front of the Olympic Rings had made clear and divisive political statements. As a symbol, it was probably about as bad as it could get for the IOC. It was not the first time that views of journalists and organisers clashed. The opening of the Games saw Beijing 2022 staff peppered with the question “Where is Peng Shuai?” following the tennis player’s allegations of being sexually assaulted by senior Chinese official Zhang Gaoli a decade earlier. Peng was part of a dual narrative at the Games. Her welfare was a constant topic at the start of Beijing 2022, with the IOC facing accusations from western reporters that it had been complicit in helping promote China’s propaganda. The organisation held virtual meetings with Peng and agreed to have dinner with her at the Games. This contrasted with the approach taken by the Women’s Tennis Association, which opted to pull events from China. It was unconvinced about Peng’s retraction of her allegations, as well as her claims she was free from coercion. www.facebook.com/insidethegames

By contrast, Peng’s name barely registered in the host nation having been censored online. On one occasion her name appeared close to leaving the lips of a Beijing 2022 official at a press conference, but their sentence came to an abrupt halt before they were rescued. Viewers in China would have been forgiven for wondering why Peng was suddenly appearing at Winter Olympic events alongside the IOC President. The question was no longer “Where is Peng Shuai?” but “Where isn’t Peng Shuai?” China’s approach to the Peng case seemed to raise more questions. The fireworks in press conferences painted a picture of the freedom of the media in the host nation. The New York Times dedicated an article to one briefing, and noted that 11 of the 12 questions in English addressed an ongoing scandal. Local enquires, on the other hand, ranged from the amount of Peking roast duck on offer at the Athletes’ Village to whether Bach had laid his hands on an in-demand Bing Dwen Dwen mascot. Press freedom had been a significant issue in the build-up to the Games. Concerns were raised over the My2022 application, which was required to be filled in by all entering the Games’ closed loop. This was the system devised by organisers to separate

participants from the general population, following the surge in the Omicron COVID-19 variant. A Canadian laboratory claimed the app had “simple but devastating flaws” that would put users’ sensitive information at risk of being hacked. Nevertheless, participants were required to upload daily temperature checks, health declarations, vaccination information and pre-Games COVID-19 test results. The closed loop itself felt akin to living in a dystopian disaster movie. Entry into the loop came at the airport, where you disembarked to the scene of a deserted terminal, apart from the groups of hazmat suited volunteers and staff. The airport PCR test lived up to the expectations set by an earlier arrival, who had claimed their tester had “tried to take out the brain and make a hole in my throat”. It was frightening that it became part of a “normal” breakfast routine to undergo a COVID-19 test from a hazmat suited Beijing 2022 volunteer, which thankfully were less abrasive than the airport test. While most Games participants entered the closed loop without issue, there were some horror stories. One reporter recalled hearing masking tape being applied to seal them into their room, until the required negative test from the airport had been reported.

Russian Ilya Burov and Ukraine’s Oleksandr Abramenk shared a moment of sportsmanship as the countries stood on the brink of war. Photo: Getty Images

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An Australian journalist emerged midway through the Games and declared he had been released after a two-week spell in quarantine, following a positive test. The journalist described being taken to an unknown location, walking down a corridor and being greeted by a door with his name on it. The stories of athletes were understandably worse, given the impact on their competition. Belgian skeleton racer Kim Meylemans posted a tearful message after being taken to a quarantine facility rather than the Athletes' Village, which she had initially believed would be her destination.

Thomas Bach faced tough questions before and during Beijing 2022. Photo: Getty Images

Polish short track speed skater Natalia Maliszewska also hit out at organisers and claimed her “hope had died” after she was isolated, released and then isolated again amid fluctuating results. The early indications were that COVID-19 cases could dominate the Games, with Austrian ski jumper Marita Kramer and German Nordic combined athlete Eric Frenzel among those forced to miss competitions. There was also the bizarre sight of ice hockey teams wearing masks for matches against the Russian Olympic Committee women’s side, following doubts over their results. These issues thankfully reduced as the Games went on, with organisers ultimately able to point to a successful testing regime which saw just 463 positives recorded during the Olympics and Paralympics from 2.5 million samples. Canada’s men’s slopestyle bronze medallist Mark McMorris said the closed loop was “not bad”, before labelling it as a “sports prison” as restrictions meant you could only move from one approved location to another. The novelty of robots serving you food and drink in the Main Press Centre also wore off after a while. www.facebook.com/insidethegames

Norway swept to a record haul of 16 gold medals, with biathlete Johannes Thingnes Bø responsible for a quarter of this tally. Fellow biathlete Marte Olsbu Røiseland and cross-country star Therese Johaug also achieved a golden hat-trick. The ROC’s Alexander Bolshunov competing as a neutral due to his country’s doping transgressions - also confirmed himself as one of the most dominant athletes of the Games with three gold medals in cross-country skiing. Struggles faced by American Alpine skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin, and her compatriot Lindsey Jacobellis earning snowboard cross redemption 16 years on from her famous self-inflicted fall at Turin 2006, were among the other notable stories on the snow. German athletes slid to multiple gold medals on the ice of the Yanqing National Sliding Centre, where Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych displayed a “no war” sign. The IOC approved this gesture of peace, and Bach later lauded ROC athlete Ilya Burov and Ukraine’s Oleksandr Abramenko, who celebrated winning medals together in the men’s aerials amid the tension between the two countries. As for the host nation, poster girl Eileen Gu lived up to her pre-Games billing with the Chinese-American skier winning both the women’s big air and halfpipe events, as well as clinching slopestyle silver. Her achievements led to Olympic Broadcasting Services chief executive Yiannis Exarchos claiming that Gu was the “story of the Games”. Nice try. Kamila Valieva entered the Games as a fully-fledged figure skating star having set a

world record in the women’s short and free programme, despite the teenager’s senior career beginning just a month prior. Valieva became the first woman to land a quadruple jump at the Olympic Games, and was the star performer in what would become an infamous success for the ROC in the team event. Her performance led to one British journalist declaring her as the “girl who saved the Games”. What followed next defined the Games. When I asked about a “legal issue”, the IOC confirmed that a situation had arisen at “short notice”. Later developments paved the way for insidethegames to exclusively reveal that Valieva had failed a drugs test. Valieva was provisionally suspended by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency on February 8, after the World Anti-Doping Agency’s accredited laboratory in Stockholm confirmed a positive test for the banned substance trimetazidine. RUSADA immediately lifted the provisional suspension to allow her to continue competing at the Winter Olympics, however, but the crisis meant the team medal ceremony was delayed. The ensuing 24 hours were extraordinary, with the sporting world reeling from the idea that a 15-year-old could have been doped. Members of the insidethegames team in Beijing were confronted by Russian journalists and news articles about us appeared online. Russia appeared to be rallying around a teenager who had been dubbed “Miss Perfect”. Eventual confirmation from the International Testing Agency saw questions shift from our team to the authorities

Alexander Bolshunov was one of the star athletes of the Games but later appeared at a pro-war rally in Moscow. Photo: Getty Images

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responsible, with the case reopening old wounds. Why was there a delay from the sample being collected on December 25 to the positive test being confirmed during the Games in February? WADA pointed the finger at RUSADA for failing to make it a priority sample to ensure a result preGames, while RUSADA claimed the delay had been caused by COVID-19. The IOC came under fire, with the organisation previously defending the presence of the neutral Olympic Athletes from Russia team at Pyeongchang 2018, by claiming it provided a chance for a new generation of Russian competitors. Yet, four years on, it was one of Russia’s youngest athletes at the centre of a storm. IOC Executive Board member Denis Oswald, who chaired the Disciplinary Commission at the time, was sent out to defend the organisation’s record on Russian doping. The Swiss official claimed there was no connection between the handling of the Sochi 2014 scandal and the Valieva affair. The ROC, meanwhile, insisted it would fight to keep the team figure skating gold medal and Valieva’s participation in the individual event, with the latter resting on a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing. To underline the interest in the hearing, one Russian media outlet ran a live stream from outside the hotel in Beijing where the case was being conducted, despite the only movement being cars coming to and leaving the area.

Kamila Valieva became the story of the Games after failing a drugs test. Photo: Getty Images

The eventual decision not to reinstate Valieva’s provisional suspension was made on the basis it could cause her “irreparable harm” should the teenager be unable to compete. Reaction flooded in with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee claiming that athletes had been denied the right of competing on a level playing field. Uncertainty over the team event medal ceremony also led me to join Japanese media in attending a figure skating press conference, which later turned out to only feature their star man Yuzuru Hanyu.

Eileen Gu lived up to her tag as China's poster athlete. Photo: Getty Images

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With all the seats taken, I was on the floor of the press room when the IOC confirmed no medal ceremonies would be held at the Games involving Valieva and an asterisk placed next to her results. This led to further outrage from the aggrieved parties. It was important to remember throughout that a 15-year-old was at the centre of so much discussion and debate, with Valieva photographed in tears after a practice session as the case took its toll. Her performance in the individual short programme was remarkable in the circumstances as she scored 82.16 to lead the competition. Equally remarkable was her free skate, where a series of falls saw the teenager’s hopes crushed in front of a global audience. The “irreparable harm” argument for Valieva competing appeared to need a rethink when her performance ended with a scolding from coach Eteri Tutberidze, and a tearful reaction to her fourth placed finish. The unforgettable evening at the Capital Indoor Stadium also saw silver medallist Alexandra Trusova hit out at Tutberidze, with the claim she may never skate again. Tutberidze’s other charge, Anna Shcherbakova, sat awkwardly as the gold medallist amid the chaos. Bach, who had avoided public comment on the scandal, had Tutberidze in his crosshairs in his final press conference the following day. The IOC President appeared to have waited for all the leaves to fall, and plotted his path in line with the public mood.

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Tutberidze was condemned by Bach for showing “incredible coldness”. The German claimed he had been incredibly disturbed by the “chilling atmosphere”. Support was given to an entourage investigation involving Tutberidze, which was triggered due to Valieva’s status as a protected person under WADA rules. A pledge to open talks on minimum age limits was also made. The extent to which the Valieva case had become the topic of the Games was shown when Bach suddenly faced only one question on human rights and none on Peng Shuai. His next appearance at the Games came at the Closing Ceremony at the Bird’s Nest Stadium, where he made a plea for world leaders to find peace. As we know, the call fell on deaf ears as Russia broke the Olympic Truce for the third time in 14 years by launching the invasion of Ukraine. This led to the nation’s eventual ban from the Paralympic Games and exclusion from world sport. The dust may have settled on the Beijing 2022 sporting action, but the legacy of the Games feels some way from a definitive conclusion. For all of China’s promises, will the 346 million winter sport enthusiasts deliver the promised boom in the industry? Perhaps they will all become climate change activists too, given that global warming will be a direct threat to their newfound passion. Despite successful COVID-19 measures during the Games, the question lingers over how China escapes its coronavirus isolation. Empty airports indicate that the nation faces several more months of being cut off from the rest of the world. Human rights issues will also not go away. Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, confirmed at the start of March that an agreement had been reached for her to visit China. An advanced team will be sent prior to her visit in May. Access to Xinjiang will undoubtedly be a key point surrounding the trip. China’s Foreign Ministry claimed on the final day of the Games that it would allow a visit but that it was against a “presumption of guilt” styled investigation. Should Bachelet and the UN conclude there have been human rights abuses, how damaging will it be to the IOC’s brand that has already been bashed over holding the Games in China? The IOC will surely be hoping for a sunnier and less politically charged outlook for its upcoming series of western Games, with www.facebook.com/insidethegames

Paris 2024, Milan Cortina 2026, Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 on the horizon. Where is Peng Shaui? She reportedly told the IOC that she planned to visit Europe after the COVID-19 pandemic, with the organisation inviting her to the Olympic Museum. If, and when, the visit takes place will be questions for the future. Having been one of the most photographed people at the Games, will concern for Peng’s welfare dissipate as the focus moves on from Beijing? Abramenko was involved in one of the defining photographs of the Games - the picture of him celebrating with Burov after they won silver and bronze respectively. The next photo of Abramenko which many of us saw was the image of him residing in a bunker in Ukraine with his wife and two-year-old son, during the early part of Russia’s invasion. Bolshunov, one of the stars of the Games, undoubtedly had a legacy defining couple of months in 2022. He won the joint highest total of medals at Beijing 2022 with five, including three golds. He was the last athlete to receive gold at the Games, as the podium presentation for the men’s 50 kilometre freestyle event was held during the Closing Ceremony. When Bolshunov was next pictured inside a stadium, it was alongside Putin as part of a pro-war rally in Moscow. And what of Valieva, who perversely may have avoided being used as a propaganda tool for war by missing out on double gold at the Games?

Norway topped the medal table with Johannes Thingnes Bø winning four golds. Photo: Getty Images

She will remain the defining athlete of Beijing 2022, which is a significant burden for her to carry into the future given she has only just turned 16. Will Valieva be remembered as a teenage superstar who guided the ROC to a team event gold medal? Or will she be the tragic story of Beijing 2022, with the possibility remaining that she is scrubbed out of the record books entirely by having a doping violation confirmed later this year? Either way, Valieva will likely be seen as a young girl who has been produced, presented, crushed and spat out by the elite sport system - in Russia and in general. Will the case lead to change or will Valieva exist as a mere footnote when the Milan Cortina 2026 figure skating medals are presented to the latest stars, as they enjoy a phosphorescent and fleeting appearance in the limelight? The latest chapter in the history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games was written at Beijing 2022. There may be a lengthy epilogue.

Peng Shuai's appearances at Olympic venues was a major talking point. Photo: Getty Images

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THE SHADOW OF WAR The Olympics can never truly escape the wider political landscape with athletes often competing while bombs are dropping elsewhere. Philip Barker tells the story of Games impacted by the ugly head of war.

ne way or another, war and conflict has cast a longstanding shadow over the modern Olympic Movement. Over the last four decades, military action ordered from the Kremlin has often been the catalyst for crisis. In late December 1979, as sports officials were making their final preparations for the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow, Soviet forces crossed the border into Afghanistan. This action provoked an almost immediate response of condemnation from many Western Governments. “I regard the Soviet invasion and the attempted suppression of Afghanistan as a serious violation of international law and an extremely serious threat to world peace,” said American President

Jimmy Carter, as he wrote to the United States Olympic Committee. “This invasion also endangers neighbouring independent countries and access to a major part of the world’s oil supplies. It therefore threatens our own national security, as well as the security of the region and the entire world. “If Soviet troops do not fully withdraw from Afghanistan within the next month, Moscow will become an unsuitable site for a festival meant to celebrate peace and goodwill.” By a strange twist of fate, the 1980 Winter Olympics were held in Lake Placid in the US. Carter did not attend, but sent vice-president Walter Mondale to open the Games.

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A few days before, a speech made by secretary of state Cyrus Vance at the International Olympic Committee Session had angered members. “We have concluded a boycott of the Olympics by citizens of the free world would be one of the most effective measures to bring home to the Soviet Government and Russian people the abhorrence in which their actions in Afghanistan are held,” Vance said. IOC President Lord Killanin later revealed that the speech had galvanised members into ensuring the Moscow Games went ahead.

The Moscow 1980 Olympic Games were boycotted after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Photo: Getty Images

However, only 80 nations took part as the boycott kicked in. Athletes from the US, West Germany, Japan and Canada were among the notable absentees, but not all stayed away. Australia, Denmark, Britain, France, Italy and Switzerland were among those who did take part. These nations used the Olympic Flag while New Zealand and Spain marched under the flag of their respective National Olympic Committees. On July 19, the Games duly opened in Moscow with a spectacular Opening Ceremony. The Soviet team included participants from Ukraine, who contributed in full measure to a haul of 80 gold medals. At the Closing Ceremony, Killanin called on the world to “unite in peace before a holocaust descends”. Few at that time would have imagined that, in only 11 years, the Soviet Union would no longer exist. www.facebook.com/insidethegames

Almost as inconceivable was the idea that the Balkans would be the epicentre of a bitter war as Yugoslavia disintegrated into bloody conflict. Sarajevo, now the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina but then a part of Yugoslavia, hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics. Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch had succeeded Killanin as IOC President by this time, and forged a strong emotional connection with the city. As the Olympics in his home city of Barcelona approached in 1992, ethnic and religious tensions had erupted and Sarajevo was besieged and shelled by Serbian forces. United Nations sanctions were imposed on Yugoslavia and its football team was expelled from the 1992 European Championships. The ban was extended to the Olympics in Barcelona, but the response from the corridors of power in Lausanne was remarkable. “The IOC could not accept a decision of this kind,” reported the Official Olympic Review. “In the teeth of considerable difficulties and by dint of direct negotiations with the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee, it prevailed upon the latter to revise its point of view to allow, after all, the participation of individual athletes.” This allowed athletes from Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia to compete as “Independent Olympic Participants”. Sarajevo remained under siege and citizens faced the horror of sniper rifles. In Olympic terms they were also “stateless”, until their NOC was granted 11th-hour recognition. It was a move which paved the way for the participation of other displaced people at future Games, and, ultimately, the establishment of the Refugee Olympic Team which debuted at Rio 2016. The situation also galvanised the notion of the “Olympic Truce”, which was adopted in time for the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer. Trucks carrying humanitarian supplies were sent to Sarajevo and at the Opening Ceremony, Samaranch called for silent remembrance of those who were there. It would still be some time before peace fully returned to the Balkans, however. As the new millennium turned, Boris Yeltsin stepped down and Vladimir Putin became the Russian President for the first time. Aged only 47, he was a contrast to the “old men of the Kremlin” who had been in charge throughout the Soviet era. Putin was, however, a lieutenant colonel in the Federal Security Service - formerly the KGB @insidethegames.biz

Georgia’s Nino Salukvadze and Russia's Natalia Paderina posed together in Beijing as war raged between the countries. Photo: Getty Images

- and it was soon clear that he craved the grandeur of the old USSR. In 2008, Putin attended the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, when the truce had become an essential part of the fabric of the Games. That year, a resolution to implement it had again been approved by the UN, and the organisation’s secretary general Ban Ki-moon sent his own message to those at war while in the Chinese capital. “Let them lay down their weapons, if only temporarily, so that humanity can lay claim to gold even before the Games begin,” he pleaded. “Such a truce, while limited in duration, can provide a pause in which to reconsider the heavy cost of war. “It can demonstrate to the world that peace is possible in even the most seemingly intractable situations, if we truly work towards it.” But at almost the very instant that the Games began in Beijing, Russian forces were attacking Georgia. Despite this flashpoint, there was little meaningful criticism of the Russian aggression in Olympic circles. Instead, a lot of attention focussed on the women’s 10 metres air pistol which brought together Georgia’s Nino Salukvadze, who won bronze, and Russian silver medallist Natalia Paderina. The world watched on to see how the pair would react when standing together on the podium at the medal ceremony. Salukvadze put her arm around Paderina and the two posed together for photographs. Paderina then kissed Salukvadze on the cheek. “I think this kind of sportsmanship and fair play and brotherhood is remarkable,” IOC President Jacques Rogge said.

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Pierre de Coubertin was influenced by a French military defeat to Prussia. Photo: Getty Images

By this time, Russian city Sochi had already been designated as the host of the 2014 Winter Olympics. Putin took a keen interest and many of the key figures in the Games were known to be among his supporters. The Opening Ceremony was directed by Konstantin Ernst, who had been decorated for his work by Putin. Ernst was also in charge of Channel One, a television station which closely identified with the ruling regime. The show was a television tour de force, although an early set piece which featured the appearance of the five Olympic Rings malfunctioned. Also included was a very positive and sanitised depiction of life in the Soviet era. What happened between the end of the 2014 Olympics and the beginning of the Paralympic Games took a very similar pattern to this year. In 2014, Russian forces moved into Ukraine and occupied Crimea. A UN resolution condemned the “illegal annexation” of the region but, despite further calls for Russian withdrawal, the peninsula remains occupied. Over the last 125 years, other conflicts have spilled over into the world of sport. In 1870, Prussian armies laid siege to Paris, bringing an end to a war between the two states. The French defeat was considered a major national humiliation, and the episode had a profound influence on Pierre de Coubertin, the man responsible for reviving the Olympic Games. Although Pierre was only seven at the time, the Prussian victory influenced some of his later ideas. It was said that he saw the Olympics as an opportunity to “re bronzer la France” and to return his nation to its former standing in the world. Coubertin travelled extensively to see how sport was practiced abroad, notably in the US and England. www.facebook.com/insidethegames

In 1894, his efforts bore fruit with agreement to revive the Olympics for the modern era. The first Games in Athens in 1896 were described in local newspapers as “a festival of peace”. At the Stockholm Olympics in 1912, Coubertin’s own poem Ode to Sport won a gold medal in the artistic competitions. Written under a pseudonym, the final verse begins: “O Sport you are Peace! You promote happy relations between peoples”. Coubertin’s new Olympic Movement faced its first test from war in 1914. Everything seemed to be progressing well when Berlin was chosen as the host city for 1916, and the Germans built an Olympic Stadium which was opened by the Kaiser. In 1914, the IOC celebrated its 20th anniversary with a festival event in Paris, but war was declared only a few days later. The First World War threw the very future of the Olympic Movement into jeopardy and Coubertin, now more than 50 years old, enlisted in the French army. He had already asked Swiss nobleman Godefroy de Blonay to become the IOC’s Interim President, although Coubertin’s hand at the helm remained visible.

Russian forces moved into Crimea in the same year as Sochi 2014. Photo: Getty Images

In a circular to members, Coubertin noted the death of German IOC member Baron Karl Von Venningen in the early months of the war. Soon afterwards, in 1915, he oversaw the relocation of the Olympic headquarters to Lausanne on the banks of Lake Geneva. This was “to keep his Movement, at least institutionally, from the reach of war’s caprices,” an official IOC collection of Coubertin’s writings says. The 1916 Olympics remain listed in the records as the sixth Olympiad, but with the footnote “not celebrated”. @insidethegames.biz

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The birth

of the Truce It was during the war in the Balkans 30 years ago that the Olympic Movement officially embraced the idea of the “Olympic Truce”. But many years before, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the driving force of the modern Olympic Games, invoked its spirit in a radio broadcast. In 1952, at the height of the Cold War, Olympic organisers in Helsinki decided to proclaim a truce to “animate the greatest athletic festival of modern times”. The idea originated in the Games of antiquity when a cessation of hostilities known as “ekecheiria” was said to have enabled athletes from rival city states to travel safely to Olympia for their competitions. In 1992, as war raged in the former Yugoslavia, there were calls for a truce, but it was not until just before the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer that International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch successfully petitioned the United Nations. They adopted a resolution “for a truce from the seventh day before the opening to the seventh day following the closing of each Olympic Games”. Sarajevo, the host of the 1984 Winter Olympics, remained under siege as Lillehammer’s Games began. “We want all of you in Sarajevo to know that we are thinking of you and that suffering and war can be overcome, if all of us give an undying effort for peace,” actress Liv Ullmann said as she helped narrate the Opening Ceremony. A truce resolution has been adopted for every subsequent Olympics, and a paragraph was included in the UN Millennium Declaration. This urged member states to observe the truce during all future Games. An Olympic Truce Centre has been established in Athens with the support of the IOC. Since the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, people have been invited to sign a “Truce Wall” in the Athletes’ Village. Philip Barker

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The Olympic flag flies next to a military vehicle in 1984 Winter Games host Sarajevo. Photo: Getty Images

Only nine members took part in the first post-war IOC Session in 1919. Coubertin described the gathering as the “peaceful deliberations” of “a group of friends happy to meet again and realise the solid nature of our Olympic armour”. Even so, IOC member Sir Theodore Cook, who had been prominent when helping to organise the 1908 Games in London, resigned his position. “It seemed to me that sport with Germany as a comrade had become impossible,” he said. “Games without her could neither be called Olympic or open to the world.” In 1919, a multi-sport event along Olympic lines took place in Paris. Only soldiers from the victorious powers were allowed to participate in what were styled as “Inter-Allied Games”, and they were not officially recognised by the IOC. In his memoirs, Coubertin recorded that “a French politician and a French journalist were waging a fruitless campaign to hand over the

Games to the League of Nations”. He fretted about “cracks in the Olympic structure”. The 1920 Games were awarded to the Belgian city of Antwerp, but Germany, Austria, Hungary and Turkey, all members of the defeated Central Powers, were not permitted to take part. Coubertin described these nations as “the league of belligerents”. Their reintegration came up for consideration in 1922, when the German sports secretary Carl Diem was invited to meet Coubertin. Although Austria, Hungary and Turkey did reappear for the 1924 Games in Paris, Germany remained out in the cold. In those days, invitations were sent from the host city itself and, for many Parisians, war with Germany remained too vivid a memory. German athletes did not return to the Olympic fold until 1928, nearly 10 years after the war. By 1936, they were hosting the Olympics, as the new Nazi regime inherited the organisation of the Berlin Games. Tokyo had been elected as host city for 1940,

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but shortly afterwards the Japanese army invaded China after already occupying Korea. The demand of the Japanese military for resources meant that, in 1938, Olympic officials were obliged to hand the Games back. In the wake of the Second World War, Germany and Japan were both barred from participation. They were also banned from the 1948 Winter Olympics in St Moritz and the Summer Games in London in the same year. The revulsion felt against atrocities perpetrated by the Nazi regime was widespread, and IOC Executive Committee member Lord Aberdare made this clear. “I hope I may have some assurance that if the Olympic Games are to be held in 1948, at least the Germans and Japanese will not be invited to compete following the agreement of the IOC as regards the Games of 1920,” he said. German gymnast Helmut Bantz was a prisoner of war but was permitted to coach

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the British team. Diem was also invited as a “personal guest” by IOC members. The IOC took a major step towards reintegrating Japan into the Olympic world with the appointment as a member of Dr Ryotaro Azuma, an urbane physician who had studied in London in the pre-war years. “The candidature of Dr Azuma will be placed before the full Session,” the official minutes recorded. Japanese rowing, swimming, wrestling and cycling organisations had already re-joined their respective International Federations. “My biggest job here was to impress upon the individual sports federations Japan’s desire to be re-affiliated,” Azuma told reporters. “I have been given to understand that if we are able to re-join most of the other federations, we will be allowed to participate at the 1952 Oslo and Helsinki Olympic Games.” Elsewhere, a group of Germans had taken part in International Student Sports Week, held in Merano in Italy in 1949. The following year, General Brian Robertson, the British High Commissioner in Germany, suggested that the time had come for further action. “You should use your best endeavours to obtain agreement that the Federal Republic of Germany should be invited to take part in the Olympic Games at Helsinki in 1952,” he said. Robertson then wrote to IOC member Lord Burghley. “The objective of allied policy is that she should become in all senses a member of the community of peace loving nations,” he said. “We must look to the youth of the country to make a new start. I suggest that the invitation to Germany to re-enter international sport would be one of the best possible steps.” The situation was further complicated because Germany had been divided into East and West, and the IOC were unwilling to recognise two NOCs for what they regarded as one country. The team which took part in 1952 was notionally from both East and West, but only Western athletes were included. The shadow of the Cold War hung over the decade and, in 1956, it had a telling effect on the Games in Melbourne. The crisis in Suez prompted a boycott by some Middle Eastern nations, and the suppression of the Hungarian uprising by Soviet forces led to further absentees from the Games. In parallel with the remarkable journey of Ukrainian Paralympians to Beijing in March, Olympic chancellor Otto Mayer helped with arrangements for Hungarian athletes hoping www.facebook.com/insidethegames

to secure passage to Melbourne. This group included the remarkable gymnast Ágnes Keleti, who won four gold medals at the Games and was among many who did not return home. This year, a passionate speech at Beijing 2022 by International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons summed up the indignation and anger felt by so many at the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “The Olympic Truce is a consensus and it must be respected and observed, not violated,” he said. “Here in Beijing, Paralympic athletes from 46 countries will compete with each other, not against each other. “Paralympians! An opponent does not have to be an enemy.” The IPC had originally intended to allow Russian athletes to compete under a neutral flag but this concession was dramatically reversed 24 hours later. Although no details were given, it was rumoured that some nations were ready to withdraw their own athletes had the Russians been permitted to participate. A few days earlier, the IOC Executive Board had published its position. “In order to protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants, the IOC EB recommends that International Sports Federations and sports event organisers not invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions,” a statement said.

Ágnes Keleti did not return home to Hungary from the Melbourne Olympics. Photo: Getty Images

It prompted a stampede from many federations to exclude Russian athletes and officials, but the situation took a nasty turn after the reaction of some competitors. Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak was widely lambasted for wearing a “Z” symbol on his kit as he received his medal at a World Cup event in Doha. This has been displayed on Russian tanks and is a symbol of support for the invasion. Later, the presence of Russian Olympic athletes at a political rally in support of Putin also drew widespread disapproval. What does seem certain is that it will be a long time before normality is restored completely. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has hinted that the effect might still be felt at the next Summer Olympics in the French capital in 2024. If the Russians are excluded for making war, just as the Germans were from Paris 1924, it would complete an extremely unhappy circle.

Vladimir Putin meets Russian athletes at Beijing 2008, when his forces were attacking Georgia. Photo: Getty Images

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The Russian invasion of Ukraine has prompted athletes around the world to speak out in opposition to the war. For some Ukrainians, they have had to go much, much further. Leticia Bila reports.

ports figures from around the world have responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with strong words and actions urging peace in Eastern Europe. The sporting community has banished Russia from competition, as well as Belarus for the support they have given to Vladimir Putin’s aggression. International Federations have been urged by the International Olympic Committee to ban the two countries from events, in addition to stripping them of any hosting rights until further notice. Since Russian tanks moved in on February 24, a large number of athletes have made their voices heard and their positions clear. Ukrainian footballers Oleksandr Zinchenko of Manchester City and Vitaliy Mykolenko of Everton put competitiveness aside and embraced in tears as the crowd displayed banners and flags in support of Ukraine prior to the teams facing each other on February 26.

The only two Ukrainian players in the NBA, Alex Len of the Sacramento Kings and Svi Mykhailiuk of Toronto Raptors, used their Twitter accounts to release a joint statement in full solidarity with their country. “A great tragedy befell our dear homeland Ukraine,” they said. “We categorically condemn the war. “Ukraine is a peaceful, sovereign state inhabited by people who want to decide their own destiny. We pray for our families, friends, relatives and all the people who are in the territory of Ukraine. “We hope for an end to this terrible war as soon as possible. Dear fellow Ukrainians, hold on! Our strength is in unity. We are with you!” The emotion continued as the Kings and Denver Nuggets held a moment of silence while linking arms with Len before their game. Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina published a “Letter to my Motherland” and stated her faithfulness despite being “far away”.

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“Letter to my motherland, I am currently far away from you, out of sight from my loved ones, far from my people, but my heart has never felt so warm and filled of your soul,” she said. “It is difficult to express how special you are. To me, you are strong, beautiful and unique. You gave me everything and I cherish every piece of you. Your culture, your education, your lands, your seas, your cities, your people. My people.

Ukrainian footballers Oleksandr Zinchenko and Vitaliy Mykolenko showed their unity before facing each other in the Premier League. Photo: Getty Images

“My people, every day I fear for you. I am devastated, my eyes won’t stop crying, my heart won’t stop bleeding. But I am so proud. See our people, our mothers, our fathers, our brothers, our sisters, our children, they are so brave and strong, fighting to defend you. “They are heroes. I commit to redistribute the prize money of my next tournaments to support the army and humanitarian needs and help them to defend you, our country. “Ukraine, you unify us. You are our identity, you are our past and our future. We are Ukraine. “May the world see it and help us to join forces to protect you. You are in all my thoughts and prayers. “You are always with me. I am Ukraine. We are Ukraine.” Svitolina, a two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist who won a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, secured a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Russia’s Anastasia Potapova at the Monterrey Open in a highly poignant encounter in March. The 27-year-old said she would be donating her prize money to support the armed forces of Ukraine. “I was on a mission for my country,” Svitolina said. “I think it’s my mission to unite our tennis community to stand with Ukraine, to help Ukraine, because what we’re going through is a horrible thing for all Ukrainians. www.facebook.com/insidethegames

“That’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m playing for my country and doing my best to use my platform to try to invite people to support Ukraine.” Pavlo Dziuba, a Ukrainian college basketball player who plays for the University of Maryland, wrote “No War Peace” and “Pray for Ukraine” on his shoes for his side’s game against Indiana University. It is not just Ukrainian athletes who have stood up to support the country, however. Solidarity has crossed borders and has even come from Russia itself. Russian tennis player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova posted a powerful statement on social media which condemned her country’s assault on its neighbour. “I’ve been playing tennis since I was a kid,” wrote Pavlyuchenkova, who won Olympic gold in the mixed doubles at Tokyo 2020 and reached last year’s French Open final. “I have represented Russia all my life. This is my home and my country. But now I am in complete fear, as are my friends and family. “But I am not afraid to clearly state my position. I am against war and violence. Personal ambitions or political motives cannot justify violence. This takes away the future not only from us, but also from our children. “I am confused and do not know how to help in this situation. I’m just an athlete who plays tennis. I am not a politician, not a public figure, I have no experience in this. I can only publicly disagree with these decisions taken and openly talk about it.

Stop the violence, stop the war.” Pavlyuchenkova’s compatriot Andrey Rublev, who won the mixed doubles gold with her in Tokyo, became another Russian voice to publicly condemn the war. After beating Poland's Hubert Hurkacz in the semi-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships, Rublev signed the camera lens with the message “No war please”. “Now it’s not about tennis,” he said. “It’s not about sport. It’s about having peace all over the world. We need to support each other.” Andy Murray, Britain’s two-time Olympic champion and three-time Grand Slam winner, announced that he would donate his prize money from the rest of the year to Ukraine. “Over 7.5 million children are at risk with the escalating conflict in Ukraine,” the Scot wrote. “So I’m working with UNICEF UK to help provide urgent medical supplies and early childhood development kits. “It’s vital education continues, so UNICEF is working to enable access to learning for displaced children, as well as supporting the rehabilitation of damaged schools, together with replacement equipment and furniture.” One of the highest-profile Russians to speak out was ice hockey player Alex Ovechkin, who has been a supporter of Russian President Putin. The 36-year-old three-time world champion made an appeal for peace. “Please, no more war,” the left winger, who is captain of NHL side Washington Capitals, said.

Tennis player Elina Svitolina published an emotional letter in support of her country. Photo: Getty Images

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Russian ice hockey player Alex Ovechkin called for an end to the fighting in Ukraine. Photo: Getty Images

“It doesn’t matter who is in the war - Russia, Ukraine, different countries - we have to live in peace.” When asked about his position regarding Putin, Ovechkin still acknowledged him as "my President". "I am not in politics,” he said. “I am an athlete. “It’s a hard situation right now for both sides, and everything I hope is going to end. I’m not in control of this situation.” Lithuania’s Olympic shooting champion Daina Gudzinevičiūtė has donated her Sydney 2000 gold medal to "Stronger Together", a non-Governmental organisation which has helped Ukrainians since the beginning of the crisis. Gudzinevičiūtė, who topped the podium in the trap, was appointed as an IOC member in 2019. She is the President of the National Olympic Committee of Lithuania. "Sport and Olympism symbolise world peace and unity," she said. "We wholeheartedly support the Ukrainian people, their athletes and the entire Olympic community. "We contribute to a common effort in any way possible." Ukraine’s Olympic pole vaulter Yana Hladiychuk wrote the words “stop war” on her cheek at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March.

But some of her compatriots have gone above and beyond simply issuing statements, and have actively joined the defence of their homeland. Brothers and former boxing world champions Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko were high-profile names to announce that they would fight back against the invasion. “It’s already a bloody war,” Vitali Klitschko, who is also the

Mayor of Ukrainian capital city Kyiv, said. “I don’t have another choice. I have to do that.” Former Ukrainian tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky left his family in Hungary and signed up to the army to defend his country on the frontline, despite not having any previous military experience. Heavyweight boxing world champion Oleksandr Usyk did the same before being granted leave to prepare for his title defence against Britain’s Anthony Joshua. Lesya Vorotnyk, a principal dancer at Kyiv’s National Opera, was pictured holding a Kalashnikov rifle and wearing military gear, while another dancer, Oleksiy Potiomkin, also joined the fight in the capital. Nordic combined athlete Dmytro Mazurchuk was another to take up arms, doing so just days after he competed at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in February. Biathlete Dmytro Pidruchnyi, who competed at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, signed up to defend his hometown

Ternopil in western Ukraine. For some, these displays of courage resulted in the ultimate price. Yevhen Malyshev, a 19-yearold biathlete, died while serving in the Ukrainian military with his death confirmed by the International Biathlon Union. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 4.2 million people have fled to neighbouring countries because of the war, while an estimated 6.6 million are believed to be displaced inside Ukraine. Ukrainian tennis player Dayana Yastremska used social media to describe the nightmare she and her family have been through after they spent two nights sheltering underground in Odessa. "After spending two nights in the underground parking, my parents made a decision at any cost to send me and my little sister out of Ukraine,” the 21-year-old, who was once in the top 25 in the world rankings, said. “Mom, dad, we love you very much, take care of yourself. “I love you, my country.”

Former heavyweight boxing world champion Vitaly Klitschko, now the Mayor of Kyiv, joined the defence of his country. Photo: Getty Images

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Youth and experience The stars of figure skating are often teenagers, but many of the sport’s officials are in their golden years. Geoff Berkeley explores the debate over age limits.

ust shy of its 130th birthday, the International Skating Union is the oldest Olympic winter sport governing body. As they say, with age comes wisdom, but with youth comes energy and willingness to try new ideas. ISU members are set to face this age-old debate when attending its Congress in June - a meeting that could change the shape of figure skating and the future running of the International Federation. After six years in office, Jan Dijkema will step down as ISU President, citing age as one of the reasons for his decision not to stand again. “I'll be 78 this year,” said Dijkema. “That's why the successor has to be arranged.” Under the ISU’s current age rules, Dijkema would be unable to seek re-election.

But the Dutchman said he had been encouraged to stay due to a proposal to increase the maximum age limit for office holders from 75 to 80. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are tabling the move which is set to be presented to the ISU Congress, scheduled to be held from June 6 to 10 in Phuket in Thailand. It is a decision that affects almost a third of the 13-strong ISU Council with Dijkema, vice-president Alexander Lakernik of Russia and long-serving members Marie Lundmark of Finland and Roland Maillard of Switzerland all above the age of 75. The quartet are all established and influential members, with Maillard and Lundmark serving on the Council for 11 and 20 years respectively. Now, they both look set to be replaced. Should the ISU Congress vote against the motion, it could lead to a generational shift at the organisation. Dijkema’s predecessor Ottavio Cinquanta was head of the ISU for 22 years before exiting in 2016, making the Italian the longest-serving President in the organisation’s 129-year history. Patricia St Peter of the United States, South Korea’s Kim Jae-youl, Finland’s Susanna Rahkamo and Serbia’s Slobodan Delić are now standing to become the next

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head of the International Federation. Whoever succeeds Dijkema - who first became a Council member in 1994 - will take over an International Federation that has come under increasing scrutiny following the controversy surrounding Kamila Valieva at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Valieva was just 15 when she competed in the Chinese capital but was at the centre of a huge scandal when it was confirmed that she had failed a drugs test. The Russian sensation was cleared to compete in the women’s singles event by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which argued that preventing her from skating could cause “irreparable harm”. But the teenager, who was favourite to clinch gold, left the ice in tears under the glare of the world’s media after finishing outside the medal places. The Valieva saga raised fresh questions over whether a girl of such a young age should be exposed to the intense focus that comes with performing on the biggest stage. The International Olympic Committee has since encouraged IFs to make “appropriate adjustments to their regulations” on minimum age limits in their sports. Long before Beijing 2022, the age cap had been debated within the ice skating community.

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GEOFF BERKELEY SENIOR REPORTER, INSIDETHEGAMES The ISU raised the minimum age to 15 in the late 1990s after American starlet Tara Lipinski clinched the world title at the age of 14 in 1997, but calls have been made to increase it further in response to concerns over injuries to young skaters. Dutch figure skating officials launched an “urgent proposal” in 2018 to change the age limit to 17, but the item was removed from the agenda following opposition from 39 countries. Discussions among the ISU started again in 2020 after 20-year-old figure skater Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya committed suicide. It was reported that Alexandrovskaya, who represented Australia at Pyeongchang 2018, struggled with a demanding coach and loneliness. The Norwegian Figure Skating Association tabled another proposal later that year in a bid to increase the minimum age by two years. But the move faced an immediate backlash from the Russian Figure Skating Federation, with coach Tatiana Tarasova laughing off the idea. “A Norwegian figure skater there is no such thing,” said Tarasova.

Jan Dijkema, who will be 78 this year, is due to retire as International Skating Union President. Photo: Getty Images

“How do they know from how many years you cannot perform among adults?” Despite her dismissive remarks, Tarasova is one of many figure skaters that had their career cut short by injury as she was forced to retire at the age of 18. Yulia Lipnitskaya made history

at Sochi 2014 when she became the youngest ever Olympic figure skating champion at just 15 years and 249 days. But three years later, Lipnitskaya retired from the sport after three months of treatment for anorexia. Last December, another

Coach Eteri Tutberidze, left, was criticised for her treatment of Kamila Valieva, right, at Beijing 2022. Photo: Getty Images

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Russian figure skater in 22-yearold double world gold medallist Evgenia Medvedeva decided to hang up her skates because of a chronic back problem, while two-time US national champion Alysa Liu retired in April at the age of 16, saying it had been an “insane 11 years” in the sport. Supporting the argument for an increase in the minimum age limit, the ISU Medical Commission has presented a report to Council members, emphasising the risk attached to competing at elite level under the age of 17. “It is both the developmental and skeletal age that must be considered when reviewing the age limit to enter the senior category,” the report reads. “It is conceivable that allowing under-age athletes to compete may subject them to loads and risks that are thought to be inappropriate for their age, not only physically, but in terms of the psychological and social development of the child. “Increasing the age limit to 17 years of age to qualify for entry to the senior category allows

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the junior athlete the time necessary to reach skeletal maturity, decreasing risk of epiphyseal injury if training loads are modified during times of rapid growth, and to expand on their social and emotional skills development. “Most importantly, the ISU has a duty of care to protect the physical and psychological health and safety of all athletes including elite adolescent athletes.”

Tara Lipinski won the world title in 1997 at the age of 14. Photo: Getty Images

A survey carried out between December 2020 and January 2021 by the ISU Athletes’ Commission found that 86.2 per cent of respondents were in favour of raising the age limit. The motion is now set to go before the ISU Congress in June, with a two-thirds majority required for it to be approved. Under the proposal, the minimum age would stay at 16 for the 2023-2024 season, before moving to 17 for the 2024-2025 campaign and beyond. The ISU Council claimed that this gradual implementation would stop under-age skaters who had already competed internationally in the senior category from returning to the junior section. It is hoped that the move will help prolong the careers of figure skaters who previously burst onto the scene before quickly burning out. Just two of the past eight winners of Olympic gold in the women’s singles have been over the age of 17, with two aged 15 including Lipinski at Nagano 1998 and Russian Alina Zagitova at Pyeongchang 2018. The Norwegian Figure Skating Association highlighted that many recent teenage Olympic champions walked away from the sport soon after securing gold. www.facebook.com/insidethegames

“There is an immense pressure put on the skaters at the top senior level,” the country’s proposal to the ISU Congress read. “To debut at the senior level, at 15-yearsold, does not seem to motivate the skaters to have a long career in the sport. “Our sport should facilitate rules and a competition environment that supports the possibility of a long-lasting career.” Should members vote in favour of the age limit rise, it could result in the end of the quad in women’s skating. While the men regularly pull off four-revolution jumps, no woman over the age of 17 has managed to complete the quad in competition. Anna Shcherbakova of the Russian Olympic Committee landed two quads on her way to gold at Beijing 2022 as she achieved the highest artistic marks. Her team-mate Alexandra Trusova, also aged 17, became the first female skater to execute five quads in one free skate routine but it was only enough for silver. Shcherbakova, Trusova and Valieva formed part of what was dubbed the Russian “Quad Squad” due to their ability to make the high-scoring and high-risk move. “More young girls are going to be attempting these quads, even at the cost of them landing wrong and risking themselves injury,” Polina Edmunds, a retired American skater who competed at Sochi 2014, told the Associated Press. The Russian trio are coached by Eteri Tutberidze who received heavy criticism over her strict coaching methods during this year’s Winter Olympics. Tutberidze was filmed asking an upset Valieva “why did you stop fighting?” after she left the ice following her free skate programme. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said he was “very disturbed” after watching Valieva’s struggles and criticised the reception she received from her entourage. “Rather than try to help her, you could feel this chilling atmosphere, this distance,” said Bach.

Yulia Lipnitskaya won team Olympic gold at Sochi 2014 when aged just 15. Photo: Getty Images

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Reigning Olympic champion Anna Shcherbakova is a member of the Russian "Quad Squad", but the technique could be seen less. Photo: Getty Images

“If you interpret the body language, it got even worse. “All this does not give me much confidence in the entourage of Kamila with regard to the past, nor with regard to the future. “How to deal, how to treat minor athletes at the age of 15 under such mental stress?” Tutberidze, who has coached several skaters to success in major competitions, said she was “at a loss” by Bach’s comments, while Alexander Zhulin, who claimed ice dance silver at Lillehammer 1994, leaped to her defence. “Coach Tutberidze has raised six Olympic medallists and four Olympic champions since 2014, and she probably knows how and what to say to her students after performances,” Zhulin wrote on Instagram. The “Tutberidze expiration date” - which is said to be 17 years old - has become known as the age when skaters are discarded by the Russian coach as she looks to push the next rising star. Sofia Akateva and Adeliia Petrosian, both aged 14, are now expected to be the focus of Tutberidze’s attention having already landed quads in competition. But an increase in the ISU’s minimum age limit will scupper Tutberidze’s plans and throw a spanner in the works of Russia’s production factory. Russia has also been hit by sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine with the ISU agreeing in March to exclude all Russian athletes from competition. The ISU’s response to the Ukraine war is another big topic that is expected to be discussed at the long-awaited and muchanticipated Congress in Thailand. It will be the first time the ISU has staged a Congress since 2018, after postponements in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All eyes are now set to be on Phuket, and with so much riding on the five-day Congress, it is sure to be one for the ages.

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the world heads to uni A revamped Hayward Field at the University of Oregon is due to host this year’s World Athletics Championships. Track and field has become synonymous with the state, but its past includes stories of both glory and shame. Michael Houston tells the tale.

he modest east and west grandstands have been demolished and the core features of one of the world’s most iconic tracks have been given a facelift - but the legacy remains. Hayward Field - home of the Oregon Ducks - has been transformed from a reliable venue to an athletics stadium worthy of hosting major events. Located in Eugene at the University of Oregon campus, the first World Athletics Championships on American soil is set to take place there this year. This is a startling fact considering the nation’s stature in the sport, but there seems to be no better place to hold the flagship event than one of the most pivotal cities in the “running boom”. Part of the revamp is the construction of a tower, a 10-storey structure which pays tribute to five track and field legends from the university. Former decathlon world record holder Ashton Eaton is one of them, as is Otis Davis, the 400 metres and 4x400m relay gold medallist from the Rome 1960 Olympics. Another recognised is Raevyn Rogers, the current Olympic bronze and world silver medallist who is likely to represent the hosts in the women’s 800m at the World Championships. All three have achieved great things, but they perhaps pale in comparison to the legacies of coach Bill Bowerman and runner Steve

Prefontaine, two of the most influential people in collegiate and professional athletics. Bowerman was the wise mind behind the success of Prefontaine, an enigma whose personality stood out as much as his running achievements. While “Pre” was becoming the top middle-distance prodigy in the country, Bowerman was already finding his feet away from the inside of lane one, having founded Blue Ribbon Sports with one of his former athletes, Phil Knight. The pair teamed up in 1964 to launch the company which initially started as a distributor for Japanese shoemaker Onitsuka Tiger. It later merged into the apparel giant Asics. BRS would trade shoes under a new name after severing ties in the Far East in 1971. That name - Nike - has become the biggest sportswear brand in the world. Davis has claimed that Bowerman, his coach at the university, made him the first pair of Nike shoes. This is contrary to suggestions that they were made for Knight, who was a solid but unspectacular miler. If not for a tragic accident, Bowerman’s name would likely be plastered on the calendar of every Diamond League season. The Hayward Restoration Meets of 1973 and 1974 were created to provide high-quality athletics, while raising funds to replace the deteriorating wooden west grandstand at Hayward Field.

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In 1975, this event was set to become the “Bowerman Classic” in honour of the coach, and was scheduled for June 7. However, on June 1, he approved a name change. It would now be known as the “Prefontaine Classic”. Prefontaine was twice the state champion in cross country in high school, which earned him a spot at the University of Oregon. Despite persistent offers from elsewhere, he was won over by Bowerman’s lofty promise that he could make him the greatest runner in the world. He certainly showed that form during his college years, becoming the National Collegiate Athletic Association cross country champion in three of his four years. The only time he missed out was when he finished third as a freshman, but in all four years he was an NCAA gold medallist on the track. Three of these were in the three mile event, with the other coming in his junior year in the 5,000m which he won in front of a home crowd at Hayward Field. During his student days, Prefontaine also came fourth in the 5,000m at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games. He came home behind Finnish running royalty Lasse Virén, Tunisia’s Mohamned Gammoudi and Britain’s Ian Stewart. Despite only having a Pan American title to his name on the international stage, Prefontaine outshone many of his opponents. He was an eccentric, moustachioed, long-haired stallion who prided himself on “hitting the front” and making everyone come after him. This resulted in an undefeated streak during his college years in distances from three miles to the 10,000m, and he was only defeated three times in the mile. Forty years on from his NCAA successes, it was not uncommon to find adolescent athletes in the United Kingdom posting “Pre” quotes about running hard on their social media pages. I was one of them. Why is his legacy so important to the athletics masses? He had a certain arrogance to him about his ability, but one that was completely justified. He had a personality similar to the likes of Muhammad Ali. He believed, and nothing could stop him getting to the top - at least in theory. Bowerman gave his blessing to the Prefontaine Classic name only two days after a car crash that killed his student on May 30, 1975. He was only 24. Prefontaine was driving Olympic marathon champion Frank Shorter - another athlete regarded as an architect for the www.facebook.com/insidethegames

1970s running boom - from a party to the home of two-time Olympian and fellow Duck, Kenny Moore. Minutes after dropping Shorter off, Pre’s convertible jumped the kerb of a winding road, hit a rock wall and flipped over, trapping him inside. Although alive when the incident was reported by a bystander, Prefontaine was pronounced dead at the scene, with his blood alcohol level above the legal limit according to the Eugene Police Department. Pre’s Rock, a memorial to him, remains at the site of his untimely death. The day after his funeral in his hometown of Coos Bay - a two-hour drive from Eugene - a memorial service was held at Hayward Field which was attended by thousands. His impact on the sport goes beyond his achievements on the track. “To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift” is a quote repeated within the athletics community, which was popularised by Prefontaine. Fittingly, the marathon route for the World Athletics Championships travels past Pre’s Trail, a route that he designed with Bowerman to replicate the terrain of European cross country running. Pre and Bowerman’s names are part of the furniture in the state of Oregon, which has remained the home of Nike. Its famous “swoosh” logo is now so iconic that the company name was dropped from it in 1995.

A statue of Bill Bowerman watches on at Hayward Field. Photo: Getty Images

Yet, the headquarters for one of the most recognisable brands in the world is not located among skyscrapers. Instead, it is nestled in the north-west of Oregon on unincorporated land on the outskirts of Beaverton, a town home to fewer than 100,000 people. This is clearly a strategic move. It is close to the state’s largest city, Portland, but at the same time it keeps the company close to its origins and the University of Oregon. Away from the state, there are approximately 16,000 athletes and sports organisations who promote the brand globally. From basketball great Michael Jordan to some of the best footballers on the planet, superstar athletes have long donned the Nike tick. This extends to athletics, with the Diamond League circuit featuring swathes of Nike blue and green vests across both track and field. Olympic champions such as Jamaican Elaine Thompson-Herah,

Steve Prefontaine's legacy is still being felt today after his tragic death at the age of 24. Photo: Getty Images

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MICHAEL HOUSTON JUNIOR REPORTER, INSIDETHEGAMES Americans Athing Mu and Ryan Crouser, Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon are just some of the top stars who compete in the colours. While Ingebrigtsen, Thompson-Herah and Kipyegon are among the biggest names on the track, Nike also helps athletes who previously worked full-time to support their athletics careers. For example, British women’s 400m hurdler Jessie Knight was able to switch into a part-time position as a teacher after qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, after receiving financial support. At the time she was ranked 50th in the world, while she was 45th in the 2019 list of fastest times. Her deal likely came following a fast indoor 400m in Glasgow, just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic. This, then, is not just goodwill from Nike but a clear use of advertising. What Nike does try to put down as goodwill is its generous donations to the University of Oregon, with their collaboration beneficial for both parties. Last year, the company sent a second $500 million gift to the college. As an alumnus at the university, Phil Knight has also been giving back - as well as shortening his tax bill - and since 1994 has reportedly donated almost $1 billion. Some of this has been put towards new sports facilities, as well as $500 million towards a new science campus. The Oregon Ducks basketball team play at the Matthew Knight Arena, named after the Nike co-founder’s son who died at the age of 34 in a scuba diving accident. Knight reportedly paid $100 million towards its construction, close to half of the total $227 million cost. Another $41.7 million went to the John E. Jaqua Academic Center for Student Athletes, named after the late alumnus and founding Nike Board member. The Autzen Stadium - home of the American football team - was renovated in

Nike co-founder Phil Knight, wearing a University of Oregon baseball cap. Photo: Getty Images

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Sports giant Nike has a huge presence in Oregon. Photo: Getty Images

2002 with $30 million coming from Knight. He also paid $68 million towards a new training facility for the team. As of 2017, the billionaire had reportedly given more than $300 million to sport at the university. Away from construction, Nike also builds relationships with the university’s students. Five scholarships worth $2,000 have been paid to Ducks athletes whose eligibility to compete has expired, and one student a year will receive an internship at the company’s headquarters. With the give, comes the take. Varsity coaches must make Nike appearances, and the basketball teams can expect to play in Nike-sponsored tournaments. If the university ever wants to change its logo, Nike gets “first dibs” over the decision. This is something which could be overseen by designer Tinker Hatfield, who once attended the university. The overlap between the two parties is incestuous, but one that the university relies on more than Nike does. Dave Frohnmayer took over as President of the University of Oregon in 1994, when the institution desperately needed funding, according to University of Nike, a book by Joshua Hunt. This came after state legislation cut resources to higher education, leading to the President revamping the funding model. Knight came on board in the same year, with his first major contribution of $27.4 million going towards the expansion of the library. Following various donations, Knight had power in a university like no other billionaire. By the late 1990s he was contributing towards Frohnmayer’s annual salary through a supplemental payment approved by the @insidethegames.biz

Board of Higher Education. He also made an annual gift of $1 million towards the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund, a non-profit organisation started by Frohnmayer and his wife after their daughters were born with the rare genetic disorder. At this point, Knight was a puppeteer who had leverage over the President and was unafraid to flex this power. At the same time, Nike faced major criticism for its working conditions in poorer nations after a young Vietnamese woman, Nguyen Ti Tu Phuong, was killed by a malfunctioning sewing machine. Independent reports criticised Nike’s affiliation with sweatshops. In April 2000, students staged a sit-in for the first time since the protests against the Vietnam War in 1969, as part of calls for the university to join the Worker Rights Consortium. After Frohmayer signed a one-year deal with the labour rights organisation, Knight pulled funding for the Autzen Stadium expansion and only returned his pledge when the agreement expired. On the track, Knight reportedly threatened to withdraw funding when the university’s athletic director, Bill Moos, refused to fire coach Martin Smith in 2005. Smith eventually resigned from his position that year following seven seasons, after failing to win an NCAA team title during his tenure, and Moos followed in 2007. Vin Lananna replaced Smith in the role, and helped to revitalise athletics in Oregon which regained its reputation as a major powerhouse. This proud tradition of achievement in athletics in Eugene has led the city to be known as “TrackTown USA”.

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Mary Cain made a series of allegations against Alberto Salazar and never fulfilled her potential. Photo: Getty Images

This name is aided by the success at the university, but it goes far beyond the collegiate athletes and also extends to Olympic and world champions. Ten years ago, Alberto Salazar was regarded as one of the greatest athletics coaches on the planet. Known for his intricate tweaking of techniques and adopting East African training methods, he attracted major names to the Nike Oregon Project such as Mo Farah, Sifan Hassan, Yomif Kejelcha and former Ducks Matt Centrowitz and Galen Rupp. Farah, a four-time Olympic champion, won both the 5,000m and 10,000m titles back-to-back at London 2012 and Rio 2016, and is the major success story of the NOP. Rupp was often his sidekick and won 10,000m silver behind the British runner at London 2012. Centrowitz became Olympic champion in the men’s 1500m at Rio 2016, while at the same Games his training partner Clayton Murphy claimed bronze in the men’s 800m. However, suspicion has long loomed over every athlete associated with Salazar, who started the NOP in 2001. The coach’s name has been associated with doping allegations since 2015, when he was named in an investigation by BBC Panorama and American non-profit organisation ProPublica. Testimonies from athletes claimed that they were micro-dosed with testosterone and prednisone.

One of those to speak out was Kara Goucher, a former member of the NOP and the 2007 world silver medallist in the women’s 10,000m. She said Salazar pressured her into taking thyroid medication to lose the weight gained during her pregnancy in 2010. In September 2019, the United States Anti-Doping Agency banned Salazar and Jeffrey Stuart Brown, a doctor at the NOP, for offences related to trafficking testosterone and tampering with doping control. This ban was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Salazar was then banned by the United States Center for SafeSport, which works to protect the welfare of athletes. Last year, he

became “permanently ineligible” to coach after SafeSport found he had committed four violations of emotional and sexual misconduct, including penetration of athletes with his finger on two occasions while giving a massage. The likes of Goucher, as well as Mary Cain and Amy Yoder Begley, spoke out against their former coach. Cain’s accusations were particularly sad. Having just turned 26, the American middle distance runner’s career in the sport is over, despite once being one of the most promising athletes of her generation. At the age of 16, she finished 18th in the women’s 800m at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials. She then broke her high school record in the 1500m with a run of 4min 11.01sec for gold at the World Junior Championships, against women who were as much as three years older than her. She beat the previous best of Jordan Hasay, another NOP runner. With the world at her feet, she joined the NOP later that year. Cain, however, would never make it to the Olympic Games. Her last personal bests came in 2014, at the age of 18, with injuries blighting the rest of her career. In late 2019, The New York Times published a video where she attributed her downfall to poor coaching under Salazar. She alleged weight control measures and said that her coach body-shamed her. As a result, she developed an eating disorder, could no longer menstruate and suffered five bone fractures in five years, she said. Last year, she filed a $20 million lawsuit against Salazar and Nike for the emotional and physical abuse she alleges. The NOP died in 2019, along with Salazar’s positive legacy. Centrowitz made the jump

Athletes train as part of the Nike Oregon Project in 2013. Photo: Getty Images

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MICHAEL HOUSTON JUNIOR REPORTER, INSIDETHEGAMES

Alberto Salazar, centre, with star athletes Galen Rupp, left, and Mo Farah, right. Photo: Getty Images

to the Bowerman Track Club, named after the great university coach. BTC has other links to the NOP, through head coach Jerry Schumacher. He had been touted as Salazar’s tentative successor as head coach in 2008, but the pair split a year later after falling out. The apprentice was now the rival over at the BTC, but his team has not been free from controversy. Shelby Houlihan’s positive test for nandrolone has shook the Schumacher squad, with the American runner receiving a four-year ban. Houlihan, who blamed a contaminated burrito, cannot compete until 2025. Although within the rules of the suspension, her continued involvement in the training group led to Gabriela DeBues-Stafford - who came fifth in the 1500m at Tokyo 2020 - to depart after less than two years. Speaking to LetsRun, the Canadian said she did not believe BTC had doping issues elsewhere, but was uncomfortable with the ambiguity over Houlihan’s participation in the team. Some athletes were not told about the provisional suspension until days before it was made public, it was claimed. “This absence of clarity surrounding the boundaries between BTC and a banned athlete is the critical reason for my departure,” said DeBues-Stafford. www.facebook.com/insidethegames

“I think Jerry is a great guy, and I can’t imagine him putting his athletes in a position that he thinks would break any codes or any guidelines given to either himself or Shelby. “However, it doesn’t matter how much I like or respect someone, or if I believe that they think they are abiding by the rules, I need to personally be able to verify all relevant text verbatim to ensure I am adhering to all codes of ethics and antidoping in our sport. “I cannot outsource that responsibility to someone else.” Schumacher rejected DeBues-Stafford’s request to train separately from the banned athlete. Eugene is still a Mecca for distance runners, regardless of the controversies, and the World Championships will feel like a cosy return to one of the most important places in athletics. Hayward Field first received a cinder track 101 years ago, when it was far removed from its look today. Several elite athletes will roll back to their college years in July for the grandest homecoming of all. Rogers will be hoping to stand at the top of the podium in Oregon once again, although she will be much older and wiser. Rupp will be pacing down the same streets as he did on his Sunday runs 15 years ago. While shadows will loom from the murky side of Oregon athletics, the memories of @insidethegames.biz

Prefontaine and Bowerman, and Bill Dellinger and Vin Lananna, will continue to shine on. Even 47 years on from his death, Pre’s quotes continue to inspire, and Bowerman’s legacy is remembered. Even Salazar’s ethical training techniques have been adopted elsewhere. World titles and world records will be the aim of many over the 10 days of competition between July 15 and 24. Inspirational quotes from Eugene’s favourite son will ring in the ears of many distance runners on the start line. Pre’s most fitting line might be a call back to his front running, and his willingness to never lose while always setting the standard. “The best pace is suicide pace, and today looks like a good day to die”.

Shelby Houlihan is currently serving a doping ban. Photo: Getty Images

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Glasgow and Berlin staged the first edition of the multi-sport European Championships in 2018, with the innovative event considered a success. Mike Rowbottom reports with all eyes now set firmly on Munich.

he eureka moment for the multievent European Championships - the second edition of which is due to take place in Munich from August 11 to 21 - came to its co-founders, sports marketing experts Paul Bristow and Marc Joerg, shortly after they had revamped the format of the UEFA Champions League. “It was the realisation that it didn’t need to be a new event - the events already existed - it was about bringing them together,” Bristow told insidethegames in 2018, shortly before what proved to be a hugely successful inaugural gathering in Glasgow and Berlin. Joerg and Bristow became directors of European Championships Management, the organisation which founded the new event and now manages and coordinates it, in cooperation with the participating federations, host cities and broadcast partners. “We felt there was a major hole to be filled in Europe by bringing the existing European Championships of a limited number of high-profile sports together under one umbrella,” Bristow added. “The sports marketplace was developing fast with the unrelenting power of football, and sports federations had challenges to find their place. “There’s a huge richness in the sporting world, and everyone wants to be in the

public eye, but it’s difficult to find airtime for these sports. “It was also the overall media landscape fragmenting with the proliferation of channels and choice for the consumer, in relation to other forms of entertainment. Some sports were struggling to make themselves heard. “At the time we saw a gap in the marketplace with no multi-sport event in Europe. Every other continent had a successful Games which is the pinnacle of the sports. That was the start of the journey, and the main driver for why we started. “It has been shown that there is greater interest - in terms of attendance and television audiences - for multi-sport events rather than separate, individual championships. In a nutshell, we believed that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, when the right combination of sports are brought together.” But how does the spark become a lasting flame? And how is the eureka moment evolving? In 2018, athletics took place in Berlin while Glasgow, with help from Edinburgh and Gleneagles, hosted aquatics, cycling, triathlon, rowing, gymnastics and golf. Four years on, the original vision of a single host city is about to come to pass as Munich welcomes the event 50 years after it was the venue for the 1972 Summer Olympics. The

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Olympiapark will once again play a central role. Munich 1972 will always conjure up a powerful mix of emotions given the dark activities there of the Palestinian Black September militant group, which left 11 Israeli hostages, one police officer and five group members dead. When reflecting on the significance of the 50th anniversary, Marion Schöne, the organiser and managing director of Olympiapark München, was preoccupied with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “First of all, I would like to emphasise that we, as the local Organising Committee of the European Championships Munich 2022, condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine in the strongest possible terms and are watching the events with great concern,” she told insidethegames. “We are glad that the nine European federations participating in the European Championships have followed our clear recommendation to exclude athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus from the competitions. “The extent to which the Ukrainian team will be able to send athletes to Munich is still debatable. There are already initiatives ongoing by the individual federations, offering accommodation and training opportunities to Ukrainian athletes.” Schöne made it clear that the crisis was impacting directly upon Munich 2022 operations.

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MIKE ROWBOTTOM CHIEF FEATURE WRITER, INSIDETHEGAMES “The war and the suffering that is taking place in Ukraine clearly puts our challenges into perspective, but we are also feeling the effects of the war,” she said. “For example, after the Russian invasion we are having to deal with significant price increases, not only in the energy sector. In addition, the coronavirus pandemic still has us in its grip. “Team members are repeatedly still in quarantine, and we are also suffering from supply bottlenecks due to the lockdown in Shanghai. “But at this juncture, there is no doubt that the European Championships will go ahead in August. The whole team is in the final sprint and has been doing a fantastic job for years.” Munich 2022 has unveiled “Back to the Roofs” as its slogan, with the motto a nod to the return to the Olympic host city, where sports will be held under the “same roof”. Gfreidi, a squirrel decked out in a traditional Bavarian hat and shorts, has been chosen as the mascot. “With our mix of sport and culture, we want Munich, Bavaria and the whole of Germany to shine in the splendour of the European Championships,” said Schöne. “In doing so, we are focusing on ecological and social sustainability, and striving to set a positive example for major sporting events in the future. “Unfortunately, we are currently living in challenging times and would like to see our society grow together again, with more togetherness and inclusion. “Sport can convey this better than any other part of life. We also want to inspire people, especially youngsters, to take part in sport again. “The nine sports should also be a motivation. "Funding from the City, State and Federal Governments shows the scope of this event. “Olympiapark is a living example of sustainability and will continue to be a

Glasgow hosted the majority of sports at the first European Championships in 2018. Photo: Getty Images

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Munich's hosting of the European Championships will come 50 years after the German city staged the Olympic Games. Photo: Getty Images

meeting place for sport, culture and leisure for decades to come. “For almost 50 years now it has been one of the most popular park areas in the city, and the people of Munich not only come here for concerts or sporting events, but also use the park for a Sunday afternoon walk or to do sport. “The park has been actively used since its inception, making it one of the best, if not the most-used, Olympic sports venues in history.” As Munich moves along, it is interesting to recall that, just a couple of years ago, the notion of the 2022 edition being shared by two cities was still being mooted. “Munich provides a great opportunity to stage all the individual championships in a single city and for the first time demonstrate the impact the multi-sport European Championships can have in this format,” said an ECM spokesperson. “Following a host city selection process and evaluation carried out by ECM, the participating European federations unanimously approved Munich as the host city due to its outstanding candidature and its strong interest in the European Championships concept. “Indeed, it became clear during discussions that the values and vision of Munich closely matched with those of the European Championships. “Munich is recognised as a world-class host city that already possesses fantastic sporting facilities, and exceptional eventstaging experience. “The use of existing stadiums and venues that require minimal additional @insidethegames.biz

infrastructure is important to us in terms of the event’s general sustainability, and is paramount to minimising the environmental impact of the Championships. “The stakeholders have worked together to ensure the existing environmental philosophy and values of Munich are supported and respected - as these are in line with those of the European Championships. “All this, coupled with the fact that it is the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Olympic Games, makes Munich the perfect host city to stage the event on its own.” In terms of the sports on the programme, two from 2018 - aquatics and golf - have been removed. Four new ones have come in, however, with beach volleyball, canoe sprint, sport climbing and table tennis joining the originals of athletics, cycling, artistic gymnastics, rowing and triathlon. Will future editions be as volatile? And will there be any substantial changes in terms of structure, events or location? “The model of the multi-sport European Championships is the bringing together of existing championships of some of the continent’s leading sports,” the ECM spokesperson said. “Different configurations of sports are possible if they fulfil the essential criteria for the success of the European Championships. “To find the right balance to reach the targeted broadcast exposure for all sports, and create a must-watch, must-attend multi-sport event that elevates the champions of Europe, we believe between seven and 10 sports is a good number that can be timetabled together.

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Athletics is a flagship European Championships sport and keeps its place for 2022, but aquatics is no longer on the programme. Photo: Getty Images

“After careful analysis, ECM will consider new sports if it adds strength to the programme or if it is specifically requested by a potential host city. “Any new sport must be willing to enter into a partnership agreement with ECM with respect to the overall European Championships requirements, and, in particular, the commercial rights.” Back in July 2018, it was commercial rights that Bristow identified as one of the key challenges in bringing together, on that occasion, seven sports, with each having a different way of doing things. “When we started, a lot of long-term rights agreements were already in place, and some sports were unable to participate because they had already sold their rights for 2018 in 2011,” he said. “Others had media rights and sponsorship agreements in place that had to be respected, making it harder to get a unified commercial proposition.” Four years on, have there been similar challenges this time around, or was the first edition effectively the ice breaker for future versions? “With Munich 2022, there has been a similar challenge with some participating sports having existing media rights and sponsorship agreements in place that need to be respected,” the spokesperson said. “We have made a step towards the centralisation of rights, with most sponsorship rights granted to the host city of Munich to enable a centralised marketing programme for the Championships. “Of course, with what has happened in the world in the past two years, Munich has www.facebook.com/insidethegames

faced a whole new set of problems. But it has done a fantastic job in difficult circumstances to attract a range of sponsors. “As a next step, after two proofs of concept, the objective for 2026 is to fully centralise, or get as close as possible to, the sponsorship and media rights. “ECM will grant the rights of association to the European Championships 2026 marks, plus a clearly defined set of marketing rights to the 2026 host city, to enable sponsors and suppliers to buy a compelling, combined package across all the participating sports.” The crowding effect on the sports calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic is something which ECM has discussed at length with World Athletics and the Commonwealth Games Federation, which are respectively holding a World Championships in Oregon and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham this year. “The international sports calendar in 2022 has been hugely impacted, but in our constructive and collaborative discussions with World Athletics and the Commonwealth Games Federation our mutual goal was to put the interest of the participating athletes at the forefront of our thoughts,” the spokesperson said. “Liaising on the development of individual timetables so that we give the respective athletes the best possible chance to compete in the events they want to. “It was also essential to coordinate timings to allow the proper presentation of each event in the media. “We worked closely with both organisations to ensure that athletes, media and sports fans can enjoy an amazing @insidethegames.biz

summer of sport across three world-class events, from Oregon to Birmingham and culminating in Munich in August.” The European Championships now competes with the European Games, which held its first edition in Baku in 2015 and a second in Minsk four years later. Kraków and Małopolska in Poland have been named as the hosts for 2023. Looking ahead to the next edition of the European Championships in 2026, the ECM spokesperson added that “a number of European cities” are in the frame. “The European Championships concept is designed to make it accessible and affordable to a broad range of cities,” they said. “The innovative and cost-efficient staging model is specifically designed so that a major event can be delivered in a sustainable and affordable way. “Consequently, there are many cities which have the existing facilities and scale to stage the European Championships on their own, and many more potential candidates if cities within a country or a region start working together.

Sport climbing is a new addition to the European Championships schedule. Photo: Getty Images

“While many cities are already expressing interest in staging the European Championships, we know there is a long journey to secure the necessary support to put a serious candidature forward. “We are currently supporting potential cities in their initial feasibility assessments and if there is positive interest, ECM will work with a potential host city to develop a comprehensive project in line with the city’s own sporting, economic, cultural and social objectives. “A dual city concept can only be considered if two, or more, cities were to bid at the same time for the staging of different sports within the European Championships programme.”

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The Right Choice Some Russian athletes have been forced to miss competitions through no fault of their own, but that does not mean it was the wrong thing to do, as Mike Rowbottom argues.

magine you are a Russian athlete, without influence over your country’s foreign policy. Imagine you are a Russian athlete with a proven anti-doping record, who has publicly criticised the slow progress your National Federation has made in seeking reinstatement after its 2015 international ban following revelations of a statesponsored drugs scheme. Imagine you are a Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion and that you are now - despite having been able to compete as a neutral for several years - banned from international competition in the wake of your country’s invasion of Ukraine. Imagine that you are Mariya Lasitskene. Imagine you are a Ukrainian athlete, and you had to flee your home city last month under bombardment from Russian shells. Imagine you had to spend three days making your way to the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, hiding in cellars, constantly changing plans and directions, and dodging fires and explosions. Imagine that you are Yaroslava Mahuchikh. There is no enmity between these two. Indeed, as was clear in the aftermath of their Tokyo 2020 high jump competition, where the Ukrainian added a bronze to the silver she won behind Lasitskene at the Doha 2019 World Championships, there is camaraderie. There is friendship. As Cathal Dennehy pointed out in a cogent article last month, Lasitskene, 29, and her young Ukrainian rival were criticised on social media by many at home for embracing and posing for pictures while displaying their flags after their Olympic contest last year. Given the ongoing armed conflict involving their respective nations in Ukraine’s Donbas region, their actions were viewed by critics as fraternising with the enemy. Now, tragically, and the term can be

properly used here, that conflict has flared into something bigger, wider and crueller. Speaking after winning the high jump gold in Belgrade, the 20-year-old Mahuchikh tried tearfully to convey to reporters what she had witnessed in previous days. “They killed our people, they killed our nation and they killed our children, the future of Ukraine,” she said. “I want peace for my country, and the way to have peace is for Russians to go home.” Her grief over the fate of her country was mirrored more recently by Ukrainian biathlete Dmytro Pidruchnyi, the 2019 world champion in the 12.5 kilometres pursuit who has now joined the Ukrainian National Guard. Pidruchnyi’s fierce comments came in response to those made by French former biathlete Simon Fourcade, who had criticised the ban on Russian and Belarus athletes imposed by the International Biathlon Union, saying they were “not responsible” for the invasion of Ukraine. Fourcade added that Russian athletes who had appeared at the pro-war rally held in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium by Russian President Vladimir Putin, wearing the “Z” symbols associated with support for the invasion, “weren’t allowed to say no because they have a lot to lose, including their freedom”. “This does not mean in any way that I support the Russian Government,” he said. In an Instagram statement directed at Fourcade, Pidruchnyi, a three-time Olympian, wrote: “I hope your children will never feel the pain that Ukrainian children have suffered. “Children who left their houses, who felt the sound of explosions, who saw their mothers screaming.” He added: “Since the beginning of the war, only one Russian athlete has written to me to tell me that he is ashamed of what his country is doing, but that he is afraid for him and his family and therefore does not express his public support. “For me, the silence of the Russian and Belarusian athletes means that they have made their choice to support the war. “I do not regret at all that they are not present at any international competition.” Fourcade said his sympathy for the banned athletes related to a scene he witnessed at the Junior World Championships in the United States, where coaches announced Russian

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Mariya Lasitskene, left, and Yaroslava Mahuchikh celebrated together at Tokyo 2020. Photo: Getty Images

athletes could not complete the competition. Similar scenes were witnessed when Paralympians, already in Beijing, were turned away following the International Paralympic Committee’s shift from allowing neutrals to compete to banning Russian and Belarus athletes entirely. Can an athlete competing as a neutral earn glory for themselves without it reflecting upon their nation? Not really. For example, everyone always thinks of Lasitskene as a Russian athlete. Because she is. Allowing such opportunities within the context of judgements over doping is one thing. Allowing them in the context of slaughter is another. Some federations - such as those governing tennis, judo and cycling - have nevertheless tried to hold a line by allowing Russian athletes to compete as neutrals. Others, including football’s world governing body FIFA and the International Swimming Federation, have been obliged by protests to harden their position in the same manner as the IPC after initially seeking such a stance. World Athletics announced its ban on Russian and Belarus athletes “for the foreseeable future” on March 1, the day after the International Olympic Committee had called upon International Federations to follow its own lead. In an address to his Council, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: “I have railed against the practice of politicians targeting athletes and sport to make political points when other sectors continue about their business. “This is different as Governments, businesses and other international organisations have imposed sanctions and measures against Russia across all sectors. “Sport has to step up and join these efforts to end this war and restore peace. “We cannot and should not sit this one out.” And so Lasitskene, who missed the Rio 2016 Olympics because of the 2015 ban but has since competed as an authorised neutral athlete with proven anti-doping credentials, is a casualty once again of others’ actions. But only in a sporting context.

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The insidethegames.biz Magazine Spring Edition 2022

Articles inside

Introduction

Standing With Ukraine

The Right Choice

Breaking up with Russia

The Shadow of War

Willkommen Europe

Youth and Experience

The World Heads to Uni