– I think it is completely unacceptable to be interrupted in that way. It was both upsetting and unpleasant, says Peter Reinebo to news. He is the day-to-day leader of the Swedish Olympic Committee. Reinebo was essentially to present a comment on behalf of the five Nordic Olympic committees Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway, who believe that it is completely wrong to let Russian and Belarusian representatives participate in international sport. When he was about to read out the award, he was interrupted by the chairman of the European Olympic Committee (EOC), only to find that the microphone was switched off. – I tried to keep going, but no one was listening. The atmosphere in the room was quite special, he says further. No political discussion The EOC has subsequently confirmed that the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) did not participate in the meeting, but that Belarus (NOCRB) was present externally. That’s what Insidethegames.com writes. In a joint Nordic statement, it is stated that the countries think it is unacceptable to allow Russian and Belarusian participation in international sports as long as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues. – We fully support the proposal for zero participation of all Russian and Belarusian athletes and representatives in international sport, it says. news has not succeeded in getting a comment from the European Olympic Committee, but ahead of the meeting the member countries had been told that the EOC did not want any political discussions during the seminar. This was also the message Reinebo should have received when he was interrupted. STOPPED: Peter Reinebo. Photo: ANNA TÄRNHUVUD / BILDBYRÅN – But when he cut me off, he also said that it was forbidden to express my political opinions, says Reinebo. – Why didn’t they respect the message in advance? – Our intention was not to start a political discussion, it was rather a comment on the implementation of the meeting with participants from Russia and Belarus, following the restrictions they decided on this spring. We think that should still apply, and therefore we would like to explain why we think so, he says. He believes that it testifies to one thing. – All points in this seminar deal with comments on the pandemic and the ongoing war. What was different for us was that we thought that the chairman of the EOC had made a bad choice. My opinion is that it was the criticism that they clearly wanted to stop, he says further. – Unlucky Norway was represented at the meeting by two people from the administration at Olympiatoppen. Sports president Berit Kjøll said that Norway was an active contributor and initiator of the award from the Nordic sports organisations. It was laid down in connection with the Nordic sports leaders’ meeting on 22 and 23 September in Oslo. – Here it was made clear that Russian and Belarusian athletes and leaders must still be banned from international sport, says Kjøll in a statement. INVOLVED: President of the Norwegian Sports Confederation, Berit Kjøll. Photo: Håkon Mosvold The position was sent to the International Olympic Committee, EOC, the International Paralympic Committee, the European Paralympic Committee, ANOC (the Federation of National Olympic Committees), in addition to all European Olympic Committees. – Even though it was made clear that no political messages were to be delivered, it is nevertheless unfortunate that the Swedish representative is interrupted when, on behalf of the Nordic countries, he points out that it is not desirable for Russian and Belarusian participation in the meeting, says Cool. Kjøll further says that it is natural to make this clear to the EOC. – Initially, we would like to discuss the incident with our Nordic colleagues in order to assess a joint response to the EOC, he elaborates. Reacting On 22 October, it was announced that the FIS board will make a decision about Russian and Belarusian participation in competitions this coming winter. Biathlete Dmytro Pidruchyny from Ukraine thinks it is incredibly sad that the FIS is considering allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate. – Russians and Belarusians are responsible to their authorities. Therefore, the athletes should also bear this burden, says Pdruchnyj to news. POINT OF VIEW: Biathlete Dmytro Pidruchny. Here with a WC medal from Östersund in 2019. Photo: TT NEWS AGENCY / Reuters He hopes people understand that the war is not over. – I do not think it is right that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be allowed to return to sport while the war continues. They should be suspended until Ukraine has taken back its territory, and until the Russian Federation is punished for their crimes. He announces action should that happen. – If they come, we are ready to boycott competitions. I think most Ukrainian athletes agree with me, he says.
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Turned off the microphone when Peter Reinebo spoke at the Olympic meeting: – Unacceptable – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
