LAUSANNE / AIPS: Sport for peace was the overarching theme as Morinari Watanabe, one of two Asians running to succeed Thomas Bach as IOC president, answered questions from international journalists from AIPS.

The 66-year-old Japanese president of the International Gymnastics Federation was speaking from Kyiv, in war-torn Ukraine

He said: “I am at the gymnastics centre in Kyiv, Ukraine. Why am I here? As you know, I was at the European Olympic Committees General Assembly in Frankfurt last week, and we also saw the outcome of the meeting between President Trump and President Zelenskyy. I don’t know everyone’s thoughts, but I became very worried about Ukrainian gymnasts.”

Watanabe, asked about the correlation of peace and sport in the current climate, said: “In February 2022, the country of Russia did not respect the Olympic Truce agreement and was punished. This is no question. However, it is not good to punish athletes who are not involved in the conflict because it will create new hatred. Therefore a system for the participation of neutral athletes was created by the IOC.

“I believe that this is the right solution. I have pleaded with Ukrainian gymnasts many times not to create new hatred, and asked them to accept for some Russian athletes to participate as neutrals, but they didn’t accept. But I will continue to talk about this.

“My goal has always been to use sports to defeat tensions. So now I am here in Ukraine but in the near future I would talk with Russian gymnasts and also go to Israel and Palestine and other conflict zones. It’s not easy, and it needs time, but we must start. We must not close our eyes and close our ears. We must put the problems on the table and discuss. I don’t want to run away from the problem.”

An innovative proposal from Watanabe is staging Olympic Games events in five continents simultaneously.

He said: “I respect Baron Pierre de Coubertin and share his idea of Olympism. The purpose of the Olympic Games is for as many people as possible to understand Olympism and contribute to the development of sports and the peace. So if we organise this five-continent Olympic Games, we will get many benefits. For the athletes, each sport will take place in one of the five countries that offers the best climate and facilities for that sport.

“For the host countries, each country will host 10 sports which will greatly reduce the financial burden. For marketing and TV rights, there will be 24 hours coverage with sponsorship potential and a new source of continental sponsorship. The IOC itself cannot organize the Games on five continents at the same time – cooperation between the IOC, continental Olympic committees and the IFs will be essential.”

He said he was opposed to the idea of introducing prize money for medallists at the Olympics.

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