If the suspension of Russian athletes from international competitions is prolonged, a “parallel” Olympics could take place, the Russian government will do everything possible to ensure that Russians participate in high-level tournaments, Igor Artemyev, president of the Supreme Council of the Russian Rugby Federation , told reporters.
At the end of February, the executive committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that federations not allow Russians and Belarusians to compete due to the situation in Ukraine. IOC member, former World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) boss Craig Reedy said in July that the Russians’ performance at the 2024 Olympics in Paris is unlikely.
Sport has been drawn into politics. Now the architects of this whole story are going to have a very difficult time. Because it is easy to enter this river, but it is very difficult to exit it. And what will happen tomorrow, when the Americans begin to restore order in another country? What will they do? How will they be in front of the whole world? Russians are bad there, on a national basis, Russians and Belarusians have been disqualified, but can Americans? This country is more active in this regard within the limits of the 20th and even the 21st century. She did it several times and made no secret that she would do it whenever she wanted. Here they are again soon want. What are we doing?
This can and is leading to a huge split in the sport globally. Sport has always been an ambassador of peace. When people could negotiate on the ground. And what did the politicians do? They took it and cut everything with an ax.
– What is the probability that we will miss the next Olympics?
I don’t want to judge. I see how some federations are floundering and saying that it is impossible to do this on a national basis. Remember the international tennis federations. There are sane people who explain why you are occasionally politicians. You are destroying all the ideals of Olympism. And what will happen tomorrow? Will there be three parallel Olympic Games? Four World Cups? We will come to that.
If this story drags on and common sense does not prevail, we can come to this. It is clear that the opposing teams should not play on the field. It is not necessary to provoke anything. If we are not allowed to participate in the Olympics, well, the split will deepen. We can only feel sorry for our athletes. But I think that the State, the government will do everything so that we play, that we participate in serious competitions on a large scale.
Source : MatchTV
