On the same day that the Russian president had announced the mobilization of up to 300,000 new soldiers for the war in Ukraine, the FIS’s general secretary, Swiss Michel Vion, took to the stage at a conference in Planica and said that he believes it is getting closer that Russian and Belarusian athletes can participate in the World Cup already before Christmas. He told of meetings between the IOC and the Special Olympic Federations regarding the banning of the two warring nations. Russia and Belarus are on their way into the disc heat again, was the message. GENERAL SECRETARY: Michel Vion in FIS. Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP The start of the Alpine World Cup in October was too early for Russian participation, but by December this could be possible, said Vion. And the enthusiasm was unmistakable. It is more than likely that the management of FIS has always wanted to allow the Russians to participate. The safety of the Russians the most important thing When they were pressured to ban Russian athletes from the World Cup races in Norway in March, right after the invasion of Ukraine started, it was all justified on security grounds. The organizers could not guarantee the safety of the Russian and Belarusian athletes, whether it was in Drammen, Trondheim or in Holmenkollen, it was claimed from the management of the FIS. What Putin’s forces were doing in Ukraine was not the point. And there has always been an underlying feeling of a desire to re-include the Russians in particular as soon as possible. This particularly applies to the FIS cross-country exercises. Not that it is this sport that preoccupies the still reasonably fresh Swedish-British FIS president Johan Eliasch the most, but it is the one of the association’s exercises that is most damaging without the participation of the two nations – and not least their sponsors. Before the war started, the Russians just managed to take four golds and a total of 11 medals in the cross-country exercises at the Beijing Olympics. In total, six golds were awarded to what was officially designated as the ROC, i.e. the Russian Olympic Committee, the last remaining sign of the nation’s recent doping history in the Olympic context. Without Norway on the starting line FIS now believes that the IOC and their powerful president Thomas Bach want Russia back in the sporting heat. In that case, an Aleksandr Bolshunov or Veronika Stepanova, both of whom have apparently voluntarily lined up in President Putin’s propaganda markings after the outbreak of war, are back on the cross-country tracks in good time before the WC in the same Planica later in the winter. If this were to happen, contrary to conjecture, there should be no Norwegian competitors. Regardless of whether you take away from Russia and Belarus the right to fly under your own flag, there is no doubt who you are dealing with. This type of sanctions are purely symbolic actions and have no real meaning. Norway should never agree to send its athletes in competition with representatives of the Russian armed forces, as this will be. Football as a role model In the same way, Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic all refused to participate in so-called playoff matches for a place in the upcoming football World Cup in Qatar, if UEFA and FIFA allowed Russia to keep its place there. Fortunately, it didn’t. Russia was also stripped of hosting responsibility for the Champions League final, energy giant Gazprom was removed as its main sponsor, while Russian teams were banned from all European club tournaments – and are also now out of qualification for the next European Championship in 2024. Which is the only right way to approach this on. The previous football World Cup was held in Russia in 2018 and showed more than ever how sport is used to achieve political ends. Ukrainian national team captain Andriy Jarmolenko called, ahead of their Nations League match against Scotland this week, for Russia to be isolated and banned from all sports. “We cannot allow Russia to participate in any competition while their army is killing the civilian population of Ukraine. The Ukrainian national team is unanimous in this: Russia should be banned from everything” CLEAR SPEECH: Ukraine’s Andriy Yarmolenko. Photo: RUSSELL CHEYNE / Reuters These are the voices that sport must continue to listen to. What does Thomas Bach really mean? Instead, the focus of FIS is obviously returning to sponsorship income and viewership. Michel Vion claims that Thomas Bach and the IOC want to mark the distinction between sport and politics once and for all. Such claims, in their seemingly idealistic naivety, only come from sports leaders with ulterior motives. So here too. It will be interesting to say the least to hear if Bach agrees that this is the way to do it. He hasn’t been until now – and hopefully won’t be until well after the war in Ukraine has ended. The case of tennis Other organisations, such as the International Biathlon Union, IBU, and the International Athletics Federation, WA, have so far been crystal clear in their position. Both Russia and Belarus argued to lift the ban on their biathletes as recently as last week at the IBU Congress in Salzburg. Fortunately, they were not heard. Congress extended the ban indefinitely. The sport needs more bans, not less. Because it is the only opportunity it has to use to influence the situation, albeit symbolically. Instead, some federations, such as tennis, have allowed Russian and Belarusian players to continue participating under the guise of so-called neutrality. It went so far that the Wimbledon tournament was punished for denying players from the two countries participation. In the next Grand Slam tournament, the US Open, as a consequence of this long-dangerous all-Russian final on the men’s side, which more than ever would have illustrated the moral depravity of the sport. Our own Casper Ruud was one of those who prevented this from happening, by beating the Russian Karen Khatsjanov in the semi-finals. RUSSIAN RESISTANCE: Casper Ruud thanks for the match after the victory against Karen Khatsjanov in the US Open semi-final. Photo: Matt Rourke / AP Innocent individuals should preferably not be affected by bans like this, which has made this controversial. Many believe that banning performers with no connection to the wartime regime in Moscow will only be counterproductive. But in this context, consideration of Russian and Belarusian athletes cannot and should not be close to the most important thing. “The good move” Everyone also understands that the quality of the FIS cross-country competitions deteriorates greatly without Russian and Belarusian participation. But that must continue to be the case for the foreseeable future, regardless of the impact on interest in cross-country skiing or on the finances of the International Skiing Association. On 22 October, the FIS Council, where our own former ski president Erik Røste sits, will take a decision on extending the ban on the two nations. The choice should be easy, especially if you look through the arguments of General Secretary Vion or President Eliasch, who will probably be eager for the same. “It could be the good move”, as Vion termed a possible Russian participation in the upcoming WC in Planica at the aforementioned conference, called Forum Nordicum. A satisfied Vion further told the audience about FIS’s support for Ukrainian athletes in the coming season. In addition to money, it will be about support for equipment as well as travel and accommodation. Plus possibly some extra competitors in the slot, we might add.
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