Return to Russia? A fatal sign

Oh yes. Christmas. Hearts soften again when the smell of mulled wine fills your nose and vanilla crescents lie temptingly on your plate. You just want to do something good. For yourself, of course, and somehow as a great side effect for others too. And of course this requires a certain amount of attention. Thomas Bach, the German Cleverle, of course knows this in his role as President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Recently he was pretty much deregistered because of Qatar and this World Cup, which actually seems to be a success in the end.

In wonderful Lausanne, at the even more wonderful headquarters of the IOC, where Bach has a desk, probably with an unobstructed view of Lake Geneva, it has been recognized that a few sparks have to fly so that the world knows that this is the club that is Organized Olympic Games still exist. Bach has therefore taken on a topic that is guaranteed to cause a stir. Clever, as I said. He wants to bring Russian athletes to Paris. So that means 2024. Since he probably sees this project, like all the others he pushes, as a matter of the heart, he probably assumed that his old friend Putin, from whom he cheekily took away the Olympic medal, would still be the one wants to reduce Ukraine to rubble and ashes.

Bach as a politician The timing of the announcement of his efforts couldn't be worse. Russia continues to leave a trail of horror through Ukraine. Almost every day new war crimes are being reported and mass graves are being found. The Ukrainian infrastructure is systematically bombed almost every day. Hospitals and residential buildings are also sometimes hit as collateral damage. Putin wants to use the cold and winter as a weapon. Does Thomas Bach not notice all of this? Or is he an ice-cold official who puts his vision of an Olympic Games for everyone, at all times, above current reality? As the supreme leader of the Olympic spirit, he also likes to see himself as a politician who only flies first class and to whom the doors of government palaces are open. In any case, he let French President Emanuel Macron in on his plans and was probably well received. The hosts for 2024 also want it to be a celebration for everyone. And of course the athletes from Russia's war party are part of this. After all, it is suggested to us in this context, they are also victims.

Russia's athletes are behind Putin But most athletes are unconditionally behind Putin and his idea of bringing Ukraine home to the Reich by force of arms, even if there will then be nothing left of this country, which is still a sovereign state to which Crimea belongs , which Russia annexed immediately after the Sochi Olympics. Thomas Bach was essentially standing next to Putin when he gave the order to occupy Crimea. Probably during the closing ceremony, when the world was distracted by Olympic fever. Putin, like many other rulers of an autocratic system, uses his athletes as brothers in arms in tracksuits. Russia has spoken bluntly about the honor of its athletes' participation in the war of conquest.

The former world-class biathlete Olga Zaitseva, for example, clearly supported Putin and formulated the sad statement that she was ready to fight. “After all, I know how to shoot.” She is not an isolated case. There are therefore no two truths. The exclusion of Russia from all events held by various associations must continue, as must the exclusion of competitions organized in Russia. Officially, IOC President Thomas Bach justified the current exclusion of Russia with the protection of the athletes. Protection against hostility towards Ukrainian athletes. Apparently a habituation effect has now set in in war reporting and Bach sees the time as having come to insist on normality. It is a fatal and wrong sign. And just by the way: the state doping organized for the Olympic Games, a monstrous fraud machine, has still not been dealt with. Despite Christmas, now is not the time for leniency towards Russia. This also applies to sport, which is part of a perfidious system that has started a war that has long since influenced all of our lives. But perhaps you don't really feel that in Lausanne yet.

About the author: Sigi Heinrich The multi-award-winning sports journalist (including the German Television Prize and the Bavarian Sports Prize), author and Eurosport commentator devotes his column “Sigi's Peaks” to the entire diversity of sport and sometimes touches on topics outside of his profession. Sometimes with a mischievous wink, sometimes dead serious or deliberately provocative. There should be something for everyone.

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Return to Russia? A fatal sign

The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, wants to enable Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in the next Games in Paris in 2024. Our columnist Sigi Heinrich sees this as a fatal and wrong sign to a country that is blatantly bombing a sovereign state.

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