MIKE ROWBOTTOM CHIEF FEATURE WRITER, INSIDETHEGAMES
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.
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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
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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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