Athletistic / Hockey. Former president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) René Fasel said that he could not imagine an Olympic hockey tournament without the participation of the Russian national team.
“The IIHF is Russia, and Russia is the IIHF. How can an Olympic hockey tournament take place without Russia, Canada, Finland and other top 6 countries? The showdown between the Russian and Canadian national teams is the philosophy of hockey. I have always been annoyed by the fact that politics interferes in sports, and over the past two years it has entered the lives of people associated with sport. Today there is a lot of pressure on international federations to exclude Russia from the competitions. that the World Championships would be held in Belarus, but these. Sponsors abandoned Minsk, put pressure on the IIHF and this boycott was supported by a number of teams.
Why can Russians play in the NHL, but can’t compete in the Olympics like other NHL players? I really hope that the NHL Players’ Union (NHLPA) will think about this and say: either everyone will go to the 2026 Olympics in Italy, or no one,” Fazel said, as quoted by TASS.
The 2026 Winter Olympic Games will be held from February 6 to 22, 2026 in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy). The hockey tournament will take place exclusively in Milan. Note that the last time NHL players participated in the Olympic Games was in 2014, at the Sochi Games.
Since March 2022, the IIHF has not allowed the Russian national team to participate in competitions under its auspices. IIHF President Luc Tardif previously said that the decision on Russia’s participation in the 2025 World Cup and 2026 Olympics will be made by the organization’s Council in mid-February 2024 .
The current Olympic champion is the Finnish team. In the final of the hockey tournament of the 2022 Games in Beijing (China), the Finns beat the Russian team with a score of 2:1.
Source: Sport
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