The head of the Norwegian athletes’ committee, Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, has received a lot of criticism after news revealed on Thursday that she was among those who had advocated not discriminating against athletes on the basis of passports in a meeting with the IOC. – If sport is to continue to be neutral and have a zero tolerance against discrimination, you cannot exclude athletes because of Russian passports. There are also violations of human rights. What I have done is advocate for a discussion, said Jacobsen himself to news on Thursday evening. A debate has started in the Norwegian sports community. – Now Astrid has hit the bar as roughly as possible, says rower Kjetil Borch to news. Birgit Skarstein is both a member of the Norwegian Athlete Committee and the Athlete Council of the Paralympic Olympic Committee (IPC) and attended the meeting with the IOC as an IPC representative. She tells about disagreements in the Norwegian committee ahead of the IOC meeting. – There were divided opinions internally and there were many perspectives that were taken up. No decision was ever made about what the sports committee should mean, says Skarstein. The athlete committee The athlete committee consists of: Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen (chair) Anna Margrete Sletsjøe (deputy chair) Aida Dahlen Anita Yvonne Stenberg Birgit Skarstein Lena Schrøder Sarah Louise Rung Stian Skjerahaug Øyvind Watterdal – Should athletes from Russia and Belarus be allowed to participate as neutral athletes? – I think it is too early to have that discussion, because there must be so much reason to be able to say that they can do it. I think that discussion is further down the road, she says. – What do you think of Jacobsen’s post? Do you agree with that? – I very much agree that we must dare to discuss what values should be the basis of sport. Inclusion and community are important. Then one is also forced to recognize the very strong feelings in the current situation. I think it is completely impossible to have this discussion, if you do not recognize how difficult the situation is for athletes all over the world, and how this type of conflict has enormous consequences. And how personally and professionally one is affected by the conflict. – It is a terrible conflict, and sport is also seen in a pinch when he becomes an arena for promoting messages of war. It is difficult to have a pure debate on principle, without taking in the practical realities. One is forced to have a duality in it, she adds. Should Russian athletes be allowed back into the heat? Yes Yes, but only if they take a clear distance from the war No Show the result – I think everyone was very drawn to the bed Skarstein goes on to say that they would have sought a greater anchoring among the athletes if they had been aware of what the outcome was. – I think everyone was very taken aback by the fact that that meeting was to be taken as income for what a mass of athletes think. In any case, I was not prepared for the athlete committee to present the opinions of Norwegian athletes now, because we actually don’t have that, she says. – What I think is a little provocative here, is that certain practitioners feel that their view is not being heard or that one is being taken for granted for a view that one does not have. Therefore, I think everyone, including the IOC, should be careful about saying that they have the athletes behind them without having been given a clear mandate to do so, says Skarstein. Critical of the IOC process: – Getting messy The fact that the various representatives came to the meeting with the Olympic Committee (IOC) without a decision makes Skarstein wonder about the IOC’s conclusion. – I cannot answer for what other nations think and want. It may be that the IOC feels that it has strong support from others, but in any case you must ensure that you have a process that is so open and clear that there is no doubt that they have the support that they say they have has, says Skarstein, and continues: – It gets messy when you see that everyone is not of the same mind, and the mass of athletes is nevertheless drawn as income for one point of view. And in any case, in a case like this, where everyone definitely does not agree. And maybe you don’t really know what you’re agreeing on either. news has contacted the IOC about the criticism, but has so far not received a reply. CRITICAL: Birgit Skarstein. Photo: Geir Olsen / NTB Calls the Beijing Games “divisive” Skarstein himself was present at the Paralympics in Beijing shortly after the war broke out, and it is clear that it has left emotional traces in him and others in the Paralympic environment. – I hope I never experience the situation that was in Beijing again. It was a divorce, quite simply, she says. There it first became clear that Russian and Belarusian athletes were not allowed to participate the day before the championship started. By then the athletes from the two countries had already come to China to participate in the Paralympics. – I really hope that Beijing 2022 was the last time in history that a country goes to a war of aggression against another country during the Olympic or Paralympic Games. The Olympics and PL are absolutely fantastic in that you get the whole world together. The division that they managed to create in that camp, he was quite raw, brutal and inhumane, she says.
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– I think everyone was very drawn to bed – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
