The Royal Dutch Skating Union (KNSB), the Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC*NSF) and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports protested against the visit of the President of the Russian Skating Union Nikolai Gulyaev at International Skating Union (ISU) events.
Gulyaev visited the ISU conference in Leeuwarden and the World Speed Skating Championships, which took place in Heerenveen.
De Telegraaf published an article about Gulyaev’s visit and also quoted the text of a letter from the President of the Ukrainian Skating Federation Sergey Brodovich, which, according to the publication, was sent to the President of the International Skating Union (UIS)
In particular, he called on the ISU to ban representatives of the Russian and Belarusian federations from participating in the activities of the international federation and gave an example of support for this position from the Netherlands, Norway and Poland.
De Telegraaf also cites the NOC*NSF position that athletes and sports officials from Russia and Belarus are categorically not welcome at meetings held under their auspices. “Just because we’re not inviting them doesn’t mean they can’t come into our country,” an NOC*NSF spokesperson told the publication. – We take a clear position, we do not want to do business with them, but we cannot forbid them to meet on the territory of the Netherlands. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about it, but of course they embarrass our country. »
The position of the Royal Dutch Skating Union (KNSB) is also given, which expressed a written protest against the presence of Russian and Belarusian guests invited by the ISU to the events. “Then the ISU announced that the invitation policy is also theirs and not the KNSB. The KNSB had no contact with either the Russian guest or the Belarusian guest.
A representative of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports also regretted the decision of the ISU: “Several joint declarations signed by the Netherlands also call for the exclusion not only of Russian and Belarusian athletes from tournaments international athletes, but also officials from these countries. . Therefore, it is disappointing that the ISU did not respond to this in this case.
In March 2022, the ISU banned Russian and Belarusian speed skaters, short track skaters and figure skaters from competing under the auspices of the organization due to the situation in Ukraine.
Source : MatchTV
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