LAUSANNE, Switzerland: Ongoing uncertainty about letting Russian athletes try to qualify for the Paris Olympics affects “less than half” of its 32 sports, the umbrella group of Summer Games governing bodies said on Friday.
Those sports have an urgent need for more clarity from the International Olympic Committee with qualification events pending less than 17 months before the opening ceremony in Paris.
Most sports bodies are still imposing a year-old ban on Russia and its military ally Belarus because of their war in Ukraine — a ban recommended by the IOC citing the security of athletes before shifting its position as Paris nears.
In January, the IOC asked sports bodies to find ways for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals.
“There are two issues for us,” Association of Summer Olympic International Federations executive director Andrew Ryan said on Friday after a meeting of its council. “The clock is ticking. We can’t just leave it open forever before there’s a decision.
“The other is, if we’re going to include Russian athletes, neutral ones, what is the definition of neutrality? I don’t think it is very easy to find that.”
The seven-member ASOIF council representing the Paris sports met for the first time since the IOC said it hoped to find a way for athletes who have not actively supported the war to return to international competition as neutrals.
IOC president Thomas Bach has said history will be on its side for trying to bring athletes together in peace and not discriminating based just on a person’s passport.
The backlash in Ukraine has been led by President Volodymyr Zelensky and past and current Olympic medalists who insist Russia must be excluded from Paris. The host city mayor Anne Hidalgo has said there should be no Russian delegation if the war continues.
Though some countries in northern Europe and the Baltics have talked of boycotting Paris, a statement last week from 35 nations — including the United States, Britain and Germany — urged the IOC to define a “workable ‘neutrality’ model” for athletes.
One IOC-backed option for Russians and Belarusians to compete in Asian qualifying events was already rejected by World Archery, whose president took part in Friday’s meeting.
“Each sport has different realities,” Ugur Erdener told reporters. Archery cited the nature of the sport’s knockout format and balance of continental entries to the Olympics.
There are questions if team sports and combat sports could accept even neutral athletes. Ukraine boycotted an Olympic qualifier in judo last year when Russians were allowed to compete as neutrals.
Russia already missed the chance to qualify in soccer from Europe and would be unlikely to qualify anyway in sports such as golf and field hockey.
“It doesn’t actually apply to 32 (sports),” ASOIF’s Ryan said of the complex range of challenges facing “less than half” its members.
“Under the current conditions it’s all unclear,” he said, adding Russians and Belarusians currently “don’t compete for their own good as much as anything, and then when we get some answers from the IOC we can explore.”
The IOC executive board chaired by Bach next meets on March 28-30 in Lausanne.
Paris Olympics sports bodies seek IOC clarity on Russia
https://arab.news/y9fum
Paris Olympics sports bodies seek IOC clarity on Russia
- Most sports bodies are still imposing a year-old ban on Russia and its military ally Belarus because of their war in Ukraine
- “There are two issues for us,” Association of Summer Olympic International Federations executive director Andrew Ryan said
Teen soccer players lay to rest mate killed in Swiss bar fire
- Brodard is one of seven members of Lutry Football Club who died in the fire, the club said
- Five others are still fighting for their lives in hospitals
LUTRY, Switzerland: Teammates of a 16-year-old soccer player Arthur Brodard were among the mourners on Thursday as Switzerland held funerals for some of the victims of the New Year bar fire in Crans-Montana that killed 40 people, most of them teenagers.
Brodard is one of seven members of Lutry Football Club who died in the fire, the club said. Five others are still fighting for their lives in hospitals.
Under light snowfall, hundreds walked through Lutry’s cobbled streets past a large drawing of Brodard and his younger brother to the church, black umbrellas in hand, filling every pew and spilling into the aisles and doorway.
His mother, Laetitia Brodard-Sitre, carried a white teddy bear and a single red rose — his team colors.
“I want to hug you so tightly that neither of us can breathe. I love you with all my heart, Arthur,” she said, addressing her son’s coffin after singing a song in his memory.
Other class and teammates also gave eulogies, describing him as attentive, sincere, kind and thoughtful.
CLUB PAYS TRIBUTE
At the start of the ceremony, a song called “One day in the wrong place” by France’s Calogero played with the lyrics: “And it’s because they were there/One day in the wrong place.”
Brodard had reserved a table with friends on New Year’s Eve at Le Constellation bar, his mother told Reuters last week.
Just over an hour before the blaze, he texted her “Happy New Year mum. I love you” and shared a disappearing video of them partying together, she said.
His photo, showing him with tousled brown hair carrying a Yorkshire Terrier “Lili,” appeared in newspapers around the world as she sought information on his whereabouts from morgues and hospitals.
He was identified as one of the victims on January 3.
“We will now join forces to fight together, to get our heads above water, regain the initiative, and finally even the score, ball in the center,” Lutry Football Club President Stephane Bise told the congregation.
Swiss authorities said the bar in the upscale ski resort of Crans-Montana had not had a mandatory inspection since 2019 and questions remain about safety standards.
Swiss prosecutors are investigating the owners and victims’ families have filed legal complaints. The owners’ lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Lutry ceremony was one of two back-to-back services for teenage fire victims at the same church.
Another joint funeral for 14- and 15-year-old sisters took place in Lausanne. Schools have mobilized mental health counsellors to support students and teachers.
Twenty-one of the dead were from Switzerland, seven from France, six from Italy, and there was a Swiss-French dual national and a French-British-Israeli national. The remaining four were Romanian, Turkish, Belgian and Portuguese.
