IAAF veto leaves Russians out of Paris-2024 in athletics – 03/24/2023 – Marina Izidro

Sebastian Coe has always known how politics and sport mix, whether during his career as an athlete or as a manager. This week, at the helm of one of the most powerful sports organizations on the planet, he took a decision that makes it virtually impossible for Russians and Belarusians to participate in athletics at the Olympic Games in Paris, next year. Bold move, but not surprising.

As an athlete, Coe won two golds in the 1,500m, in Olympics dominated by geopolitical issues: Moscow-1980, in the midst of a boycott led by the United States because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and Los Angeles-1984, when the Soviets and allies gave the change and they were not.

The years passed, the Briton left the tracks, but continued to grow in the sport. Seb Coe, for those close to him, or formally Lord Coe –an honor he received in 2000–, became even better known when he became president of the Organizing Committee of the 2012 London Olympic Games. Years later, he assumed the presidency of the International Athletics Federation (IAAF) and soon showed that it would have zero tolerance for certain issues. To the dismay of Yelena Isinbaeva, Vladimir Putin and company, the IAAF was one of the international federations that suspended the Russians and removed them from the 2016 Rio Games, amid the doping scandal that Russia had been involved in years before.

Last Thursday (23), Coe announced the end of the punishment of Russians in athletics, which lasted more than seven years, but added that athletes from Russia and Belarus who since March 2022 were banned from participating in international competitions because of the invasion Russia to Ukraine remain banned. It means that for now they are out of Paris-2024 in athletics.

The move is also powerful for other reasons: it puts the IAAF face to face with the International Olympic Committee, which argues that athletes should not suffer punishment because of their passport and that the sport should remain neutral on political issues. And as athletics is one of the noblest Olympic sports, it can serve as an example for other federations to do the same.

What if the war ends in the next few months? If that happens, Coe said he is open to discussing a possible return of Russians and Belarusians. It just looks like the conflict isn’t going to end anytime soon.

At the same press conference, he broke another bombshell: that the IAAF will exclude transgender athletes who have gone through male puberty from the female categories. The announcement was more prominent in the sports press in England than the Russian ban, not least because this is a hot topic here.

I feel for the clean athletes who are against the war and have to pay for the deeds of their rulers. At the same time, I think about the victim’s side. Are Ukrainians managing to train? How many have died in war or lost family or friends? Had their training grounds destroyed? Will they be able to prepare at a high level for the Olympic and Paralympic Games?

In a week of protests in the streets of France against the pension reform proposed by President Emmanuel Macron and clashes also in the sports field, it seems to be the most tense moment of the Olympic preparation so far, exactly one year and four months from the start of the Games. from Paris.

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