Half-hearted reaction against the war

There was no reaction to the affront. Ivan Kuliak stuck a “Z” on his jersey as he walked to the award ceremony at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Doha. The Russian came third on the parallel bars. The winner was Ilja Kovtun from Ukraine. At first, a letter doesn't seem to be a dramatic symbol. But in this case it was an unforgivable provocation.

To explain: The “Z” comes from the English transcription “Za pobyedu”, which means “For Victory”. And this letter can be seen on many military vehicles of the Russian army, which began the war against Ukraine twelve days ago. Kuliak, Putin's good soldier. By the way, Kovtun reacted calmly and calmly to his competitors' outrageous reaction. Of course, the question arises: How could this even be possible? The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) is banning the teams from Russia and Belarus from all competitions starting this week. Quite late, given the severity of Russia's attacks on the Ukrainian population. And some sporting institutions are actually still afraid to make consistent decisions.

The tennis organizations ATP and WTA are very noticeable. While the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has long since reacted clearly like many others, the tennis circus should continue to function as usual. Just a circus. Only the Russian flag is no longer allowed to fly when world number one DaniIl Medvedev plays. And at least the ATP and WTA tournaments in Russia were deleted from the calendar. They were scheduled for October. Anyway. Medvedev and Rublev remain “well-behaved” That's not consistent. You can't help but get the impression that the tennis scene doesn't want to ruin its business model by blocking the strong participants from Russia and Belarus. I therefore recommend: Just don't watch when balls fly over the net like cannonballs, accelerated by Russian athletes' rackets. Sure, I know there's a lot of talk now about so-called collateral damage. In many sports. And of course: Medvedev or Andrey Rublev are not warmongers. But both of them only promoted peace in their statements, but never clearly cited the war against Ukraine. Stay good, because back home in Moscow the millions you've already earned are in tennis, a sport that can make you rich if you're successful.

Unfortunately, the sports organization that is supposed to take a leading position in the world is similarly inconsistent, even if it is now suddenly demonstrating strength to the outside world. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has actually stripped Vladimir Putin of his Olympic medal, which he probably won't particularly care about. Putin has ensnared and infiltrated the sports world over the last 20 years, and presidents of major sports associations have been only too willing to side with him. They felt comfortable on an equal footing with big politics and also somewhat at the goal of their personal aspirations.

But now it is time to clearly distance ourselves from Putin and his system. But the only clear statement from the IOC against Russia is “an extremely serious” breach of the Olympic peace. And the IOC also remained soft on the recommendation to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes (in principle, but not necessarily, depending...) and was probably only following practical considerations anyway, because Yelena Isinbayeva, the former pole vaulter and Shamil are still sitting Tarpishchev, Russia's tennis chief, in the IOC's 105-member circle. She should have been relieved of her official positions long ago, especially since Isinbayeva is an ardent admirer of Putin. The IOC has also so far ruled out a long-overdue suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and thus a stop to all payments.

How long, please, do you want to wait for the final consequences? The IOC is losing more and more of its reputation. “Your legacy is your deeds.” Ukrainian athletes sent this message to the IOC. A sentence that should reach far beyond sports.

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Half-hearted reaction against the war

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