Vladimir Putin. Photo courtesy of kremlin.ru
MOSCOW, 14 December (BelTA) – IOC officials have distorted all Olympic principles. They will bury the Olympic movement in the end, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a combined Direct Line Q&A year-end press conference on 14 December, BelTA has learned.
“As for the IOC decision, the comparisons with other athletes, Israeli athletes and so on, everything that international officials do with regard to Russian sport is a complete contradiction and perversion of Pierre de Coubertin’s idea. The Olympic movement was created to unite people, not to divide them. Today’s international officials are too fond of the business side of the sport movement, they have fallen into a huge dependence on sponsors,” Vladimir Putin said.
“If they continue to act in this way, they will bury the Olympic movement. The very idea of Olympism is suffering today,” the Russian president said.
He also denounced calls to bar Israeli athletes from international competitions due to the conflict in Gaza Strip. “If I were to support this call, I would then liken myself to these international sports officials. Sport is beyond politics, it is meant to unite people,” Vladimir Putin emphasized.
“What do athletes have to do with it? Let them go out and compete without any restrictions. The same should be applied to Russia. This is not happening, however. They [international sports officials], under the influence of the political elites of the West, make decisions favorable for them and disadvantageous for world sport, just as European politicians make decisions favorable for the U.S. economy and disadvantageous, destructive for themselves. It is the same here, only it is a different sector,” he explained.
When asked whether Russian athletes should go to the upcoming Olympics under the conditions put forward by the IOC, the Russian president said: “We should look carefully at those conditions. I have always said that athletes train for years and should have an opportunity to perform at the biggest competitions, including the Olympic Games. Everyone knows that this is a Russian athlete. That is why I encouraged our athletes to participate in such competitions. But now we should carefully analyze the conditions that were put forward by the IOC. If these are artificial conditions, politically motivated, aimed at getting rid of our medal hopefuls and de-energizing our national team, then the Ministry of Sport and the NOC of Russia should analyze and make a balanced decision.”
