OPINION: Russia’s Return to Olympics Exposes IOC’s Moral Collapse

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is a celebrated Western institution influenced by those Greek contests from the cradle of our civilization. The modern iteration was established in 1896 by Pierre de Coubertin and has been headquartered in Switzerland since 1915. The Olympic charter has a plethora of flowery language, but the essential mission is to promote peace through sport.   

IOC standards have kept Russia partially (but insufficiently) sanctioned over the last decade. Initially, widespread doping surrounding the 2014 Sochi Games led to fines and Russian athletes not being able to compete under their banner. Then by reason of the largest land invasion since the second world war, Russia received more consequential penalties that prohibited team participation as well as any athlete linked to the military or support for their aggression.

Images of a large-scale war breaking out in Europe in early 2022 compelled then-IOC President Thomas Bach to release a statement supporting Ukraine and the IOC’s mission. It noted how: “Millions… had to flee from the brutal acts of war... Our hearts… go out to all these innocent victims. The world community reacted in an unprecedented way to what is widely considered a turning point in world history.”

There was some recognition of the moment, and a ban was instituted on the basis of a technical violation of the Olympic Truce. While Russian President Vladmir Putin decided to launch his mass invasion of Ukraine a few days after the Beijing Games to avoid offending China, this military action interfered with the less watched Paralympics, and gave the IOC a basis for action. There was a sense that the fighting could spread as it did in the preceding two world wars, and the IOC sent a message that they would take some form of stand to avoid a landscape where there was no ability to host Games in 1916, 1940 and 1944.  

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Over the ensuing years, the IOC engaged in mental gymnastics to slowly roll back the punishment when what should have endured is an all-encompassing ban on the arm of a regime that promotes itself as a direct adversary to the West. A modified ban persisted and was based, in part, on Russia’s land grab of Ukrainian regions and attempts to incorporate what were once regional Ukrainian sports organizations.

Today, the IOC has taken a markedly more unsettling tone. Current IOC President, Kristen Coventry, has rolled out the red carpet to the Kremlin, making statements about her preference for “equal access” to competitions for Russian athletes after the Olympic charter was actually amended to embrace what is the present committee’s view of “neutrality in sport.”  

However, the IOC fails to notice how Putin explicitly promotes his war as against the West and labels our collective values “satanic,” – an approach that should continue to foreclose our most privileged fields of play.  

It is a disgrace for the IOC to allow Russia to field teams after Ukraine’s ability to engage in sport at any comparable level has been decimated.  Hundreds of athletes and coaches have been killed, as well as countless sports centers destroyed. Defending Ukraine’s independence has come at immeasurable cost. Tellingly, Ukraine’s most prominent story at the recent Winter games was Skeleton rider, Vladyslav Heraskevych, getting disqualified for honoring war dead on his helmet.  

Tyrants take note: Invade a smaller democracy you have a history of oppressing with genocidal ambition and when the passage of time reaches the point where enough become numb to the horror, a path to even the West’s grandest competition will be reopened.   

Instead of such hypocrisy, the IOC should demonstrate commitment to preserving the way of life that allows the Games to flourish. No people this century have done more in the fight for Western values than Ukrainians. They have accomplished the truly Olympic feat in defending their sovereignty through successive Games. They are owed more and the IOC should not take up the vanguard in appeasing Russia. 

If the IOC cannot do their small part in this battle on the sport lines, the International Sports Federations of the various sports should (World Aquatics, FIFA, International Ski Federation, etc.), as each remains a gateway for Russia’s participation.  

The next games are in Los Angeles in 2028, and it is also incumbent on all of us in the West – sports fans, athletes, government officials and journalists – to let Russia know how unwelcome they are in the bastion of Western democracy.