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.
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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.
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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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