Further to my last update, yesterday, Tuesday 28th March, the executive board of the International Olympic Committee met to discuss what is fast becoming an increasingly uncomfortable issue for them. Ultimately, they reaffirmed their decision to create a pathway for athletes from Russia and Belarus to qualify for next year’s Olympic Games and participate as neutrals. But seemingly in the same breath, they told international federations and event organisers that ‘athletes and support personnel who actively support the war in Ukraine, or who are contracted to the military, should not be permitted to compete’.

Whilst in no way a capitulation by the IOC, this looks and sounds like a cop-out. In my view, this is a thinly veiled piece of manoeuvring to save face when, in the fullness of time, they are forced to bow to mounting international pressure - to move from this somewhat halfhearted intermediary position to one of full policy surrender - if, for no other reason than to save the Games. And what a sad day that will be. Sad because to all but the upper echelons of the IOC, or so it would appear, the unprecedented, unprovoked military aggression of the Russian Federation with the support of the Belarus against Ukraine, contradicts the principles of the Olympic Charter in one very specific regard - namely that representatives of aggressor states should not be allowed to participate at international sporting events. 

The IOC would refute that they are mandated to meddle in international affairs of course and has reiterated its "firm rejection of any political interference in the autonomous authority of sports organisations to decide on participation in their competitions". But Ukraine's sports ministry has today condemned what it said was a partial change of position by the IOC to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete and they are not alone. The IOC's recommendations were soon criticised by other countries with Poland's deputy foreign minister Piotr Wawrzyk calling it a "day of shame" for the organisation. And Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavsky said: "We must not close our eyes to reality. Russian sport is centrally managed by the Kremlin. The Russian regime does not know what fair play is”.

Personally speaking, I can only reiterate my firmly held belief that the IOC will finally buckle and there will be a complete capitulation. For this to happen, I believe that the 36 countries who have already voiced their objections, must remain strong, even to the point of implementing a boycott if that proved necessary. But how very sad that this might be what it takes to break the resolve of the IOC when instead, they could have stood in solidarity with war-torn Ukraine from the very outset and condemned the atrocities committed there with actions rather than words.