Putin accuses IOC of distorting Olympic ideal

As the IOC considers whether to allow Russian athletes to compete in the 2019 Summer Olympics in Paris, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the IOC on Tuesday of politicking sport.

Because of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian athletes may have to compete at the Paris Olympics under a neutral flag. Although the IOC has not made a final decision, it has stated that athletes shouldn’t be penalised for the actions of their governments.

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that there shouldn’t be a Russian flag flying at the Games.

At a seminar in Russia’s far east, Putin was questioned on the subject and gave a response in which he cited the principles of the Frenchman who created the modern Olympics.

“As for the Olympic movement itself, I would say this. I think that today’s leadership of international federations, the International Olympic Committee itself, they distort the original idea of ​​Pierre de Coubertin – sport should be outside of politics,” he said.

“It should not divide, but unite people.”

Putin claimed that in recent years there had been a “unacceptable commercialization” of sport and that the Olympics had fallen victim to economic pressures.

He claimed that the Olympic movement was “degrading” in the sense of “deteriorating” and that it was failing to carry out its essential duties.

“After all, the point is not only about setting records, but about uniting people.”

IOC President Thomas Bach has made it clear that the Olympics should avoid politics in order to maintain their capacity to unite people.

Like the Soviet Union before it, Russia has long placed a high value on the Olympics as a chance to establish itself as a global power. However, in the wake of doping scandals over the past ten years, its competitors have been compelled to compete in a series of Games without their country’s flag and anthem.

Ukraine has vowed to boycott the Paris Games if Russia and its partner Belarus participate, but in a July interview with Reuters, its minister of sport said that if those nations’ athletes competed as neutrals, Ukraine would back down from that threat.

(With agency inputs)