When Russian figure skater Petr Gumennik took to the ice for his free skate at the Milano-Cortina Winter Games on Friday night, his supporters in the audience held brightly coloured posters and wore sweatshirts displaying his image and the words “Team Gumennik.”
It was a personal way to cheer him on while also completely avoiding any mention of the country he hails from. Under rules set by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Gumennik competed as a neutral athlete and was represented by a plain teal flag.
“It’s my first Olympics, so I have nothing to compare it to,” the 23-year-old said when asked by CBC Sports what the experience was like competing as a neutral athlete.
“I really hope that it won’t be my only Olympics, and I really want to perform once again at the Games.”
Gumennik is one of 13 Russian athletes competing with neutral status at this year’s Winter Olympics in Italy. An additional seven are participating as neutrals from Belarus, a key ally of Moscow.
Sporting pariah
The latest IOC restrictions stem from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that began on Feb. 24, 2022, but the country has been a pariah in international competitions for more than a decade. After a state-sponsored doping program was exposed in the wake of Russia’s record medal haul at the Sochi Games in 2014, restrictions were rolled out against its athletes.
In 2018, they were banned from competing under the Russian flag. Then the country was further outcast when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine four days after the Beijing Winter Olympics wrapped up in 2022.
Nearly four years later — with the war still grinding on and with Russia refusing to agree to a ceasefire — Moscow has asked for its athletes to be fully reinstated in international competition, and sporting bodies are beginning to open the door to those once completely banned from participating.
Despite the protests from Ukraine, the IOC says the vast majority of athletes believe that competitors should not be punished for the actions of their government.
The 20 Russian and Belarusian athletes were only allowed to compete at the Winter Olympics in Italy after they were vetted by a panel tasked with making sure they didn’t make any public statements supporting the war and that they aren’t connected to state security or military agencies.
If individual athletes passed the screening and qualified for the Winter Games, they could compete. However, Russian teams were ruled out altogether, which meant that the country, which has more than 60 players in the NHL, couldn’t field a hockey team.
No team sports
The team’s exclusion, combined with the fact that the Olympics are only being shown on a streaming service in Russia and not on television, means that many people aren’t following the competition, said Vladimir Ivanov, a reporter for an online Russian sports website.
“I think all Russians would follow this Olympics. But we have only 13 athletes, and some of them are from not very popular sports,” he said in a Zoom interview with CBC News from Anterselva, Italy, where has been covering biathlon.
“Just imagine how it would be an interesting semifinal between Russia and Canada in hockey.”
Ivanov said while Russians want to see their flag and anthem back in stadiums, he believes “neutral status is much better than nothing,” as it gives athletes who have been training for years a chance to compete.
In December, the IOC executive board recommended that youth athletes from Russia and Belarus should no longer be restricted when competing in international youth competitions and even recommended that the flag and anthem could be used as long as the national sporting organization was in good standing.
It went on to state that other sanctions against the two countries should remain in place, including bans on inviting Russian government officials to sporting events.
Russia wants back in
On Thursday, Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said that about 70 international sports federations have already authorized Russian athletes to participate in international competition.
She said the country was looking forward to the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) being reinstated as well. The IOC suspended the ROC in October 2023, after Russia absorbed sporting councils in the Ukrainian territories it seized and occupied.
Ivanov said there has been a major change in the attitude of senior Russian officials toward the Olympics, between the Paris Summer Games in 2024 and now in Milano-Cortina.
In a social media post ahead of the Winter Olympics, Russian Minister of Sport Mikhail Degtyarev said the country supports its athletes even if they are competing as neutral, which is a stark change from what the former head of the Russian Olympic Committee said around the Olympics in Paris.
At the time, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, a five-time Olympic medallist, said he was against athletes competing as neutrals and threatened to take away their funding. Two months after the Paris Games wrapped up, he resigned. Ivanov said Russian athletes previously expressed fear about competing as neutrals, but that has subsided.
Still, Russian officials have been publicly threatening their athletes who are competing at the Games for a different country. Russian media report that 30 Russian citizens are representing different nations at the Olympics, and Degtyarev proposed banning the athletes’ entry into Russia.
Ukraine wants Russian athletes out
In Milano-Cortina, Ukrainian athletes have spoken out about what they see as the injustice of allowing Russians to compete.
After Petr Gumennik finished his free skate, a Ukrainian athlete, Kyrylo Marsak, took to the ice and then had to sit near the Russian skater while waiting for his score.
Yelyzaveta Sydorko, a Ukrainian athlete from the Sumy region who competes in short-track speed skating, told CBC News that she can’t understand why Russians are allowed at the Games.
Sydorko, whose father is serving on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, said it was difficult enough to participate in the Olympics with her country at war.
“We are fighting for our freedom, for our lives,” she said. “Their country has attacked our country, every day, every night.”
Source link
#ANALYSIS #Russias #hockey #players #arent #Olympics #country #gradually #returning #international #sport #CBC #News
