International Olympic Committee (IOC ) is degrading, but soon the situation in Russian sport will change for the better, you just have to be patient, Dmitry Vasiliev, two-time Olympic biathlon champion, told .
Earlier on Friday, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced that the IOC had not authorized the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the 2023 Asian Games. The Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou (China) from September 23 to October 8. It was previously reported that Russian and Belarusian athletes would be allowed to compete with neutral status and outside the medal count.
– Of course they (the Olympic Council of Asia) want to be friends with us, but at the same time, of course, they don’t want to cut ties with the International Olympic Committee. So there is a healthy pragmatism here and, in principle, we have to deal with this situation with understanding. Another thing is that the CIO is gradually degrading. Because such an approach, like that of Mr. Bach and everything he does with his band, cannot lead to anything good. Again, this leads to the degradation of the international Olympic Movement. So you have to be patient and wait. The situation will soon change. It’s just that countries that sympathize with us are now afraid of sanctions. They therefore maintain their neutrality.
Well, time is passing, and it is not working in favor of the current composition of the IOC. Again, you just need to be patient.
How long do you think we will be back on the international stage?
– Well, as long as the IOC leadership exists in its current composition, we don’t need to go back anywhere. Because they are declared enemies of Russia. They hate everything about Russia. We should not therefore count on a return to the Olympic Movement on an equal footing. It is naive to think so. But when there is a new composition of the IOC, there will be new people. But for that, we will have to wait for the end of the NOM and the alignment of the international situation. And until then, we must absolutely not count on the fact that they will deign to return us. There is absolutely no need to wait. As long as there is all this Russophobia, which the UN does not address in any way, there is no point in counting on anything.
But as soon as the situation changes, it will then be possible to sit down at the negotiating table and, of course, it will be necessary to assert its own claims: it is a complete change in the composition of the IOC. There must be completely new people. And those who enter it now have broken absolutely every law. They have no moral right to be IOC employees. In general, this is not an easy story and a difficult task. It is therefore not necessary to sit idly by and wait for someone to call us back. We need to create a new format. At least within the BRICS. Yes, it may not be such a competitive competition. But at one time, the Olympic movement was also seen with a smile. It developed gradually. It is therefore also necessary to develop and not wait for someone to deign to return it. You have to create your own,” Vasilyev told .
At the end of March, the IOC announced recommendations on the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competitions in neutral status. Recommendations include individual clearance, neutral status, banning team sports, and banning athletes associated with security forces or who have expressed support for the CWO. A decision on the Paris 2024 Olympics will be taken “at the appropriate time”, said the IOC.
Source : MatchTV
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