KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTING —- Thomas Bach has stood up in decisive defence of the International Olympic Committee’s stance in condemning the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.

The IOC president decried “personal threats to individuals” after spelling out for the annual Session the reasons for the Olympic governing body to abandon its attempt to distance itself from international political contentions.

Bach described the Russia/Ukraine crisis as “unprecedented” in justifying the recommended exclusion of Russian teams from international competitions and withdrawal of international events from President Vladimir Putin’s warring state.

He told a media briefing: “It’s a turning point in history. The world will look different after this war. Already developing you can see a new world security order and we cannot ignore this.

“We do everything we can to keep the Olympic Games and keep sport beyond politics as much as possible. We are conscious and regret the fact that now we cannot live up to our mission to have this uniting power of peaceful competition in sport.

“This hurts – and also encourages us to work even harder and to hope even more that, as soon as possible, peace will prevail.”

CAS challenge

Bach, in an address to the IOC, had insisted that the exclusions, which are being challenged by Russian at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, was a defensive rather than disciplinary measure.

He said: “Let me emphasize again that these are protective measures, not sanctions. Measures to protect the integrity of competitions.

“The safety of the Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials could not be guaranteed because of the deep anti-Russian and anti-Belarusian feelings in so many countries following the invasion.”

Bach also pointed out that Russia, not for the first time, had contravened the Olympic Truce which extended until mid-March after the conclusion of the Winter and Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing.

He said: “The war in Ukraine is different [to other conflicts] because it is a blatant violation of the Olympic Truce.”

Other conflicts

Russia sparked military action in Georgia on the eve of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and then annexed Crimea in Ukraine shortly after the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

Bach said that the IOC’s relationship with the Russian political leadership had “dramatically deteriorated over the past years,” with the doping scandal, cyberattacks and “even personal threats to individuals.”

However Bach was content for Russia’s IOC members to join the Session.

He said: “There is no justice if you paint everyone with the same brush. We can appreciate that under such [current] circumstances silence in itself can be a message. We are monitoring closely who is supporting this war with their statements or actions.”

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