The UK government has backed World Athletics' decision to keep the ban on Russian and Belarussian competitors in place owing to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
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The UK government has backed World Athletics’ decision to keep the ban on Russian and Belarussian competitors in place owing to the ongoing war in Ukraine. The Athletics governing body recently removed a suspension imposed on the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) for multiple state-sponsored doping offenses. However, it stated that Russian and Belarussian competitors would be barred from international championships “for the foreseeable future”. Sebastian Coe, the British President of World Athletics and an IOC member, has fiercely advocated for the continued exclusion of Russian and Belarusian participants, emphasizing the impact of the Ukrainian war as the major cause.
Coe, the former Olympic gold medalist and chairman of the organizing committee for the Summer Olympics and Paralympics 2012 in London have a longstanding experience of commitment in the British sports administration. The World Athletics Council, led by Coe, has formed a working group to provide recommendations on the requirements that must be fulfilled before the limitations on Russian and Belarusian athletes are eased. Considering that the situation in Ukraine has gotten worse since the imposition of the ban, the UK Culture Minister Lucy Frazer applauded World Athletics’ move and asked the IOC to follow the same.
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Despite the International Olympic Committee’s suggestion that Russian and Belarussian athletes will not be allowed to compete in international events owing to the unrest in Ukraine, the international committee has looked at a possible route for their comeback under “strict conditions” of neutrality. This implies that if there is a comeback, the Russian and Belarussian will return under ‘Neutrals’. Coe and Frazer, who argue that the ban should be continued until the dispute is resolved, are among the two persons who have criticized this technique.
Frazer has even taken the step of writing to The Olympic Partners program participants to ask them to support a ban on Russia and Belarus participating in international competition. The IOC has criticized this action and stressed the significance of preserving the autonomy of sporting organizations. However, it is anticipated that the problem will be a significant discussion point at the IOC Executive Board meeting which will be held this year.
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Oleg Matytsin, the minister of sports for Russia, has praised World Athletics for lifting its ban on the RusAF. However, he has deemed it “unacceptable” that athletes from Belarus and Russia continue to be kept out of international competitions. He expressed the expectation that the IOC Executive Board will suggest allowing the athletes to compete. Nonetheless, a large number of other nations and athletic associations have backed World Athletics’ decision to keep the ban in place.
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