The feedback is clear: Norway must participate in the process regarding Russian participation, but the majority does not want to let them participate. This emerges from the results of the athletes’ committee’s own survey, which was published on Monday morning. 70 per cent believe that it is wrong to have a process such as the IOC has started now, while half believe it may be right in the long term. 22 percent allow participation for Russian and Belarusian athletes under strict neutrality requirements. 37 percent say no, while 40 percent will wait to say something until they know what it entails. 74 per cent believe that the Norwegian athletes’ committee should participate in the IOC’s process. Earlier this winter, the International Olympic Committee started a process in which they would probe the possibilities for a return of athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports under neutrality criteria. In March, the IOC recommended international special federations to assess the prerequisites for admission to the said athlete group. So far, 14 out of 31 special summer Olympic confederations have opened up for participation. The majority of respondents are from summer sports (128), while there are 30 from winter sports. 21 play non-seasonal sports. Warns against jumping to conclusions A total of 179 people answered the survey. The athletes’ committee believes this gives the survey low representativeness: “We do not have a sufficient overview of the gross sample as we had to ask shop stewards to forward the survey to athletes in their own association. Thus, we also have no basis for being able to calculate the response percentage or to carry out analyzes to check for possible systematics in who has chosen/not chosen to answer the survey”. “Therefore, we have no basis for assessing whether athletes who are for, against or waiting to assess Russian and Belarusian participation are more or less inclined to respond to the survey. This is a weakness of the survey which means that the results must be interpreted and used with caution.” “Nor does the survey cover a sufficient number of sports/disciplines for us to have a basis for being able to generalize or conclude what Norwegian athletes think.” Inflamed debate The debate flared up after news wrote that Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen advocated the return of athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports. The Norwegian head of the athletes’ committee expressed in a meeting with the IOC that the demand for non-discrimination is unavoidable. The executive committee writes the following in the report: “Unfortunately, it was presented by a third party that the leader had advocated something other than what was de facto presented. The athlete committee recognized that due to the inflamed and unique nature of the case, it would have been wise to work more systematically towards the athlete mass in order to have a basis for being more pointed in this meeting”. Furthermore, they write that it is an important issue with “multiple value dimensions”. Jacobsen has contested the presentation and claimed that she has called for a discussion. France’s biathlon hero Martin Fourcade came out with support for Jacobsen in news. They are both members of the IOC Athletes’ Commission. Nationally, the handling and actions created strong reactions. Olympic silver winner Kjetil Borch reacted strongly to Jacobsen’s actions on behalf of Norwegian athletes. Before the weekend, he called for the investigation and announced that he will stand for election to the sports committee.
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70 percent are against the IOC process – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
