When viewed from afar, elite sports struggle to deal with Russia. There is a "capillary system" of Putin's officials engulfing whatever they do.
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| [Sports and Politics] |
It is imperative that sport and politics be kept apart at all times. Thomas Bach took this sentence with him as a monstrance throughout his career as a functionary. In addition, he served as President of the International Olympic Committee alongside him (IOC). By the way, he didn't keep to it either. This ridiculous division is explained to him on a daily basis by a guy who has previously showed him up on the big stage of international sports: Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During the closing ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the Russian president and the German president of the International Olympic Committee were spotted toasting and conversing quietly behind closed doors. The World Youth Games came to a calm conclusion here.
The next day, it became clear: Putin's forces had already received the command to invade Crimea. Further information revealed how the Russian Winter Games will go down in sports history: the following. The largest doping scandal in Olympic history occurred in Sochi. Russian athletes were deprived of their medals one after the other, making Russia the new powerhouse in sports.
When Bach told his ring firm to keep quiet about punishment for this state-sponsored fraud, it was no doubt a difficult situation in sports politics. The IOC's cooperation with the Kremlin's sports armada led to public outrage because of the IOC's cautious safeguarding of violators. There are also distortions inside the athletic community.
Bach would have behaved differently if the Olympic scam had been perpetrated by a smaller nation, there is no question about it. Russians are invincible, though. People like Bach have long argued that sports and politics should not be intertwined, and some still advocate this course of action.
Organizational sport, however, has no other alternative in the face of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. If he doesn't want to isolate himself socially, he needs to follow along. Sponsors and broadcasters worldwide are then cut off as a result of this decision. The match would be finished at this point. As a result, the sport is finding it difficult to engage with Russia from afar. It's a capillary system since Putin's staff are running this operation. The association's top offices are held by many members. A number of satellite nations are also under their control, many of which are heavily reliant on sports for their elections.
In addition, there are a variety of alternative ways and techniques. In the end, there are remnants of the Soviet past, when Putin was a young KGB agent in Dresden and the Olympic sport – then much more influential than football – was run by an ex-ambassador to the Soviet capital, Moscow. At the Boycott Games in Moscow in 1980, the Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch was selected to be the Lord of the Rings. Twenty-one years later, after the Olympus corruption scandal, Putin was forced to step down and picked Moscow as the site of his ceremonial transfer of power to his successor.
The Soviet and subsequently Russian sports comrades had no difficulty under Samaranch during glasnost and perestroika. They had a good working relationship with the Franco supporters at the top of the IOC, and they were even able to teach them a thing or two. Samaranch was a person who sought to learn as much as possible about the people that made up his global team. Some of your coworkers may be able to assist. To say goodbye to them was an honour.
After reunification, their GDR brothers were swiftly exposed since the state security was unable to erase all of their data in days of collapse. A shocking athletic system of bribery, threats, bartering, and doping was all that remained, and it could not have been conceived more crazily by Hollywood. Soviet spying continued even after the end of East Germany's snooping network. Neither this nor any other information about it was ever made public. They just remained in place for decades. Their sensitive understanding of the world of officials was also broadened.
About a decade after the century, they were joined by a newcomer: Vladimir Putin. Exuberant judoka and ice hockey enthusiast. A man who enjoys displaying his rugged masculinity in a boat or on horseback. Ex KGB officer brought with him a phrase from the Soviet period that international sports events were the finest method for countries to display their might and domination. To keep a society together, sport's success may also serve as an emotional glue.
Putin made a significant financial commitment to the field of sports policy. Sochi's 2014 Winter Olympics bid was approved in 2007 thanks to his efforts. His brilliance came three years later: he secured Russia's 2018 World Cup victory at FIFA. When detectives phoned Moscow later, they learned that all of the applicants' laptops had been wiped clean of their personal information.
Putin's allies may be found in every sport. It was not uncommon for the owners of wealthy football clubs to be known as "oligarchs," such Roman Abramovich of Chelsea, Alisher Usmanov of Everton, Maxim Demin of Bournemouth, Dmitry Rybolovlev of Monaco and Brugge, Valery Oyf of Arnhem, and Ivan Savvidis of Thesaloniki. From March 1st till today, Usmanow has been President of the World Fencing Federation, a position that he's held since the beginning of March.
And, of course, it doesn't necessarily have to be in Russian.. Former IHF president Rene Fasel, a Swiss national, had wanted to take up residence in Moscow and work in the Russian league for a profit. A close buddy of the Kremlin is Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, who is being investigated by Swiss prosecutors. His FIFA only barred Russia and Belarus from qualifying for the World Cup after the European Union UEFA had gone through with strong penalties against Russia, including as the separation of main sponsor Gazprom.
Complicity in such a tightly-knit community of bureaucrats is inevitable. That was evident all the way through. Russia will host the World Volleyball Association's men's World Championships in 2022, despite conflict starting. A war in Ukraine was first seen solely as a "conflict" by judo's international governing body, as was the International Boxing Association (IBA) and the International Speed Skating Union (ISU) under the leadership of Vladimir Putin's long-time Romanian protégé Marius Vizer. Russian tennis players, like Russian swimmers in the Federated International Swimming Association (FINA), which is led by Vladimir Salnikow, are permitted to participate under a neutral flag.
Russian and Belarusian athletes were originally denied entry to the Beijing Paralympics by the International Paralympic Committee (IPK). A warmonger-free IPK was only established when Latvia's curling team boycotted Russia. IOC advice that these athletes start under a neutral flag has already been referenced.
The sport's speciality under patron Thomas Bach is getting about. By the way, the ex-fencer is downplaying his ties to Putin these days. He hasn't talked to him in a long time." After Russia invaded, Bach called it an assault on the Olympic Charter and the ceasefire that had been in existence until March 20th. This era almost sounded like a mistake for Putin.