Arriving at a crescendo?

Leo Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’ is one of the best pieces of Russian literature. It took the brilliant writer over six years to complete the book, published as a series in 1869. The book describes how France invaded Russia and everything that followed.

How times have changed, and how the narrative has changed!

Today, Russia under President Vladimir Putin is the offender. As the world marked grimly a year of Russia invading Ukraine on February 24, the war has been a topic of discussion everywhere – among Heads of Nations, diplomats, experts who have seen conventional wars and those well versed with modern-day warfare.

The political discourse on Russia being mindless in its attack on Ukraine has both views – for and contra. Peace seems far away, though.

Viewed from the prism of sports, the war has caused plenty of damage for athletes at large. The erstwhile USSR (United States of Socialist Republic) was a sporting powerhouse, in the literal sense. Despite the disintegration of the USSR in the 90s into smaller nations, Russian sport was strong enough to grab headlines.

Back in 1980, when Moscow hosted the Olympics, there was a complete West Bloc boycott. The Summer Games went ahead, though the absence of many countries did dilute the Olympics. Today, the same Western world is pressing hard that Russia should not be allowed to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

For its part, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave an impression at the start of 2023 that it was keen to have Russia at the Games under their National Olympic Committee flag. However, the rally against Russia and Belarus, first started by Ukraine and now joined by 34 nations, has reached fever pitch.

Among those nations, which are pressing for a total boycott so that Russia cannot compete, are the United States of America, Canada, Britain, and hosts France. Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris,

said recently that Russian and Belarusian athletes be banned from the Olympics “as long as there is this war, this Russian aggression on Ukraine.”

They have been emphatic that Russia must not be allowed to compete in Paris next year. They have written to the IOC denouncing Russia’s participation. “There is no practical reason to not ban them from the event,” says the letter written by nations keen to punish Russia. Even countries like Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Denmark have joined the ‘Boycott Russia’ movement, and threatened that they would themselves boycott the 2024 Summer Olympics if the IOC acts soft.

The world of sports is already preparing full steam for the Olympic qualifiers. In almost every discipline, the qualification process is on. The gap between the Tokyo Olympics, postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the upcoming Games is three years. For the athletes, preparations, qualifying and peaking process is on.

At the same time, there is a campaign on, that the IOC does not try and accommodate Russia in any way. The call is that they should not even be allowed to compete under the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) flag, as was done in Tokyo. It is well known that sport and politics are strongly interlinked. Hosting an Olympics is as much about pride as proving superiority in geopolitics. It is hard to envisage Russia being allowed in Paris next year, as the Russian President Vladimir Putin has given no indication that he would back off and not continue to do things his way.

Putin has total control in the Russian Parliament which backs him to the hilt. So, even the decision to walk out of nuke test ban treaties with the USA is seen as something scarier. Sports seems to be the lowest priority for Russia. As it is, their athletes are suffering.

Imagine, a country which hosted the 2018 FIFA World Cup successfully was not allowed to compete in the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup held in Doha. FIFA and the UEFA were emphatic they would not allow Russian football teams. The same fate is in store for Russia as the FIFA Women’s World Cup will be hosted by Australia in 2023.

It is not as if Russian bodies have not faced sanctions in the past, even before the war against Ukraine began in 2022. Given its dubious state-sponsored doping history, Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) was hauled over the coals by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The RUSADA ban expired in December 2022 but there is still some time before WADA can declare it code-complaint.

Similarly, World Athletics had banned Russian Athletics Federation back in 2015 and while it allowed Russians to compete internationally as neutral athletes, it excluded Russian and Belarussian athletes, support personnel and officials from all World Athletics Series events, including the last World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Who suffers the most in such wars? Obviously, the athletes, even if they are competing in individual sport to earn their livelihood. Tennis has seen massive upheavals, with Wimbledon leading the way in 2022 by deciding not to allow Russian and Belarussian players to compete at The Championships. There is pressure to allow them to compete in the 2023 edition at Wimbledon, though there is no definite word as yet.

There is a big difference between allowing professional athletes to continue with their sport and disallowing or banning Russians at the Olympic Games. Anyone who is waving flags at the professional athletes is doing a wrong thing, which was seen recently at the Australian Open. Tennis is just one sport. Given the Russian sporting culture, thousands of their elite athletes are affected in so many disciplines. They have been almost crippled.

The focus does shift to the IOC, which will have to sooner than later spell out clearly its stance on Russia. A recent statement from the IOC reads: “The IOC condemned the senseless war in the strongest terms on the day of the invasion. With no end in sight to the fighting after one year of bloodshed, the IOC reiterates its condemnation of the war in Ukraine, which is a blatant violation of the Olympic Truce that was in effect at the time, and the Olympic Charter.”

The IOC has said sanctions have been imposed on Russian and Belarussian athletes. There is no way people from these nations will be given accreditation at the Paris Olympics. The larger verdict from the IOC may not come in a hurry, though the West will keep exerting pressure. Ukraine has many supporters at this stage, despite the might of Russia.

Lives have been lost, livelihoods have been destroyed, the economy is in shambles. Death and destruction have seen more sympathy for Ukraine from the USA, with President Joe Biden also visiting Ukraine very recently. Britain has been so obsessed in its support for Ukraine that it has forgotten to send humanitarian aid to Turkey and Syria, ravaged by earthquakes.

What politicians do is beyond the purview of sports analysts. Yes, it did feel strange to read that Russians could be allowed to compete in the Asian Games this September in Hangzhou. The Acting President of the Olympic Council of Asia, Randhir Singh, has said this recently to the media. It seemed odd that an Honorary member of the IOC in India would press for Russia to compete in the Asian Games, knowing very well what the situation today is. Russia is not Asia, that much of geography everyone knows.

Then again, given the slant in relations between Russia and China, to think Russians will be allowed to compete in Hangzhou is possible, on paper. It is well known the Asian Games provides Olympic qualification spots in many disciplines. To allow Russia to barge into the Asiad would be stupid. Certainly, even this should not be allowed. The Asian Games are the property of the OCA but the IOC cannot be a mute spectator. After all, the IOC is king in many ways.

In the coming weeks and months, there will be more news on Russia and a ban on their participation in the 2024 Paris Olympics. The ongoing war has been mindless, sanguine and caused great turmoil. Political analysts have failed to read the situation and predict how long the war will drag on. If a ban on Russian athletes at the Olympics is finally implemented, it would be proper. Given the recalcitrant approach of Russia as a state, this is what they deserve. Sadly, their athletes will again be hurt and lose medals.

War and Peace? Maybe, if Leo Tolstoy is reborn, he can add a new chapter in Russian literature as well as history. This time, Russia is the aggressor as a state led by Prez Putin.