By Terin Frodyma on SwimSwam
Last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced it would provisionally lift the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), providing a pathway for Russian Athletes to compete under the Russian flag at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
This decision did not come without backlash from other countries, particularly Canada, which openly objected, saying that neither Russia nor Belarus should be represented in international competitions.
In a report from the CBC, Canada’s Secretary of Sport, Adam van Koeverden, said he was “appalled” by the IOC’s decision and feels that Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine is “unjustifiable”.
“I am appalled by the IOC’s decision,” van Koeverden said in the report from the CBC. “The countries of Russia and Belarus should not be represented in international sports competitions while Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable full-scale invasion against Ukraine continues.”
He also added that Canada will not allow Russian athletes to participate in any domestic sporting events funded by Ottawa.
Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand also voiced her opinions, saying that the IOC’s decision risks “normalizing Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine.”
In the same CBC report, IOC President Kirsty Coventry said the IOC does not “want to hold athletes accountable for the actions of their government.”
Coventry, a former Olympic champion swimmer for Zimbabwe, said she “wouldn’t be sitting here if I had to pay the price when my country was going through things and being sanctioned.” The report from the CBC mentions that her home country of Zimbabwe dealt with sanctions in the 2000s from countries (like Canada) who cited human rights violations and political violence.
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which began in February of 2022, has now exceeded two million casualties combined on both sides. The IOC executive board first recommended suspending both Russia and Belarus after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as Belarus allowed Russia to use its country as a staging ground for its military,
Canada is not alone in criticizing the decision, as countries like Estonia, Norway, the United Kingdom, and Sweden have all openly advocated that the European Union withdraw funding from the IOC.
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