ISU Statement on Russia's war against Ukraine - Participation in international competitions of Skaters and Officials from Russia and Belarus

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If the IOC continues on this course, I won't be watching in 2024. Unless there are no Russians entered in Triathlon and then maybe I'll watch that.

The only explanation I have for Bach's behavior is that he either lives in a bubble where everyone is telling him that Russia needs to be in and people want to see them or there is :bribe: involved. Or both.
 
MacMadame said:
If the IOC continues on this course, I won't be watching in 2024. Unless there are no Russians entered in Triathlon and then maybe I'll watch that.

The only explanation I have for Bach's behavior is that he either lives in a bubble where everyone is telling him that Russia needs to be in and people want to see them or there is :bribe: involved. Or both.
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I'm with you. I hold out hope that the real world will intervene when the vast majority of countries other than China and KSA refuse to send teams if Russians are there. Refusal of the actual athletes to take the field is the main reason why FIFA and the Paralympics were pushed into removing Russia from competition; I have no doubt that TPTB were taking Russian money and bending over backwards to include Russian athletes, but the rank and file stood their ground.
 
MacMadame said:
If the IOC continues on this course, I won't be watching in 2024. Unless there are no Russians entered in Triathlon and then maybe I'll watch that.

The only explanation I have for Bach's behavior is that he either lives in a bubble where everyone is telling him that Russia needs to be in and people want to see them or there is :bribe: involved. Or both.
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Both. They're paying him as they're telling him that the world misses Russia
 
Bach is extremely unpopular in his native Germany and no doubt that is now becoming a global trend. After what happened in Japan at the Summer Games, for sure the Japanese people have no love for this weak, privileged so-called leader.

International federations need to take a stand, boycott any event the IOC allows the Russians/Belarusians to compete at and send a message that it is absolutely not OK, it is not business as usual.

Bach has become the "Putin" of the IOC. He needs to be replaced asap.
 
greenapple said:
International federations need to take a stand, boycott any event the IOC allows the Russians/Belarusians to compete at and send a message that it is absolutely not OK, it is not business as usual.
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Luckily, the IOC only controls the Olympics. In Bach's statement, he called on the sporting federations for each sport to figure out a way to include Russian athletes. Let's hop they just don't do that. If the ISU doesn't include Russian athletes in its competition, they won't be able to qualify for the Olympics. And they can also not give slots at the Olympics to Russia.
 
MacMadame said:
Luckily, the IOC only controls the Olympics. In Bach's statement, he called on the sporting federations for each sport to figure out a way to include Russian athletes. Let's hop they just don't do that. If the ISU doesn't include Russian athletes in its competition, they won't be able to qualify for the Olympics. And they can also not give slots at the Olympics to Russia.
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The IOC controls everything related to amateur sport and Bach's "figure out a way to include..." is a whitewash. Athletes from those countries were not able to compete in any sporting events last year because governing bodies that are members of the IOC were told not to allow them to compete, not to schedule competitions in those countries, etc.

Now Bach has reversed that so entities like the ISU will have no choice. International federations need to take a stand.
 
greenapple said:
The IOC controls everything related to amateur sport and Bach's "figure out a way to include..." is a whitewash. Athletes from those countries were not able to compete in any sporting events last year because governing bodies that are members of the IOC were advised not to allow them to compete, not to schedule competitions in those countries, etc.

Now Bach has reversed that so entities like the ISU will have no choice unless international federations take a stand.
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No, Bach really hasn't reversed. He's basically said "If you want to, you can..." But, it's going to be up to each IF to determine whether or not they want to. I'm not sure how much stomach there is within the ISU for allowing Russian skaters back into competition right now if the lack of Russian coaches sitting with skaters in the KnC at Euros is an indication of where sentiments lie. Very few skaters who represent other countries are training in Russia at this point and those who are... Well, we're seeing their team leaders or other coaches with them. Maybe this will change in the next few months, but I'm doubtful.
 
I know this isn't and shouldn't be the biggest reason to not allow Russia a back, but if they were back neck year, how would they be received? Daniel Grassl and Morisi (I won't try to spell his last name because I'll butcher it) were given very tepid responses at Europeans, and they just train with Eteri. That's World's next year are in Canada and the Canadian crowd can be very vocal when they disagree with the judging. If the judges gave out their Eteri Bonus but undermarked the other skaters, it could be ugly
 
coppertop1 said:
I know this isn't and shouldn't be the biggest reason to not allow Russia a back, but if they were back neck year, how would they be received? Daniel Grassl and Morisi (I won't try to spell his last name because I'll butcher it) were given very tepid responses at Europeans, and they just train with Eteri. That's World's next year are in Canada and the Canadian crowd can be very vocal when they disagree with the judging. If the judges gave out their Eteri Bonus but undermarked the other skaters, it could be ugly
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Would they strongly clack their knitting needles?
 
Karen-W said:
No, Bach really hasn't reversed. He's basically said "If you want to, you can..." But, it's going to be up to each IF to determine whether or not they want to. I'm not sure how much stomach there is within the ISU for allowing Russian skaters back into competition right now if the lack of Russian coaches sitting with skaters in the KnC at Euros is an indication of where sentiments lie. Very few skaters who represent other countries are training in Russia at this point and those who are... Well, we're seeing their team leaders or other coaches with them. Maybe this will change in the next few months, but I'm doubtful.
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I don't know where you get the idea that Bach is suddenly allowing international federations to decide whether or not to allow those athletes to compete. That would be a total whitewash. How will athletes from those countries qualify for any Olympic Games if they are not allowed to compete internationally at any and every event? It can't be six of one and half a dozen of the other. "We will let you compete" / "No we won't let you compete." They will scream discrimination.

The next few weeks will be a revelation as to what the international mood is re allowing them back, so perhaps we should wait and see what unfolds to have a clearer picture. My hope is that will be a decisive NO.

No one has said what the deal is in Espoo, but it is obvious the Finns are against having anything to do with the Russians given the kiss and cry images at Europeans as you note. I love the Finns!
 
greenapple said:
I don't know where you get the idea that Bach is suddenly allowing international federations to decide whether or not to allow those athletes to compete. That would be a total whitewash. How will athletes from those countries qualify for any Olympic Games if they are not allowed to compete internationally at any and every event? It can't be six of one and half a dozen of the other. "We will let you compete" / "No we won't let you compete." They will scream discrimination.

The next few weeks will be a revelation as to what the international mood is re allowing them back, so perhaps we should wait and see what unfolds to have a clearer picture. My hope is that will be a decisive NO.

No one has said what the deal is in Espoo, but it is obvious the Finns are against having anything to do with the Russians given the kiss and cry images at Europeans as you note. I love the Finns!
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Pffft... Winter sports feds can and will point out that qualifying for Milano 2026 won't happen until late 2024/early 2025. Again, we'll have to see how this plays out, but I can see a lot of winter sports feds really kicking up a fuss about allowing Russia back in - most of the winter sports feds are dominated by European nations so whatever soft power China or Russia might have in other parts of the world to allow them back into international competition ahead of Paris 2024 is going to be muted at best.
 
Baby Yoda On Skates said:
The ISU was still hyping Scherbakova on Twitter for the most valuable skater award. I can see them caving in to Bach's "gentle suggestions."
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I can too. But I can't see every other sports' federations caving. I'd be shocked if ITU does (triathlon) and there are other sports that seem to feel pretty strongly about not allowing Russians either because the international federation doesn't want them or enough of their member organizations will pull out of events.
 
Baby Yoda On Skates said:
The ISU was still hyping Scherbakova on Twitter for the most valuable skater award. I can see them caving in to Bach's "gentle suggestions."
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MacMadame said:
I can too. But I can't see every other sports' federations caving. I'd be shocked if ITU does (triathlon) and there are other sports that seem to feel pretty strongly about not allowing Russians either because the international federation doesn't want them or enough of their member organizations will pull out of events.
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Shcherbakova was the ONLY Russian skater in any discipline nominated for ANY of this season's ISU Awards. I'm sure that all the Russian fans and bots were giving them crap about the glaring omission of the rest of their skaters. I don't think that was unintentional on the ISU's part and that's a major reason why I don't think the ISU is anywhere close to "caving" to Bach.
 
Karen-W said:
most of the winter sports feds are dominated by European nations so whatever soft power China or Russia might have in other parts of the world to allow them back into international competition ahead of Paris 2024 is going to be muted at best.
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Russia funneled a lot of money into intl sport, placed people into decicion making positions, has propaganda strategies, that's why I fear, that most feds will allow RUS athletes under special circumstances. For a lot of smaller countries money from IOC is imporatant for their sports programs.

Overall I HOPE, that feds get pressure from the public that it is better to ban athletes than to bomb them. And that there should be a difference. (South Africa was banned from sports for decades)
 
In the summer Olys, there are a lot of African delegations, particularly in track and field, and for a variety of reasons most of their countries have not been anti-Russian. Sports like gymnastics are centered in NA, Europe and east Asia and with the exception of China those countries have been clear where they stand. So it may vary.

I swear if the ISU buckles I’ll use my retirement time to help organize a fan protest movement. We did it once before.
 
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greenapple said:
The IOC controls everything related to amateur sport and Bach's "figure out a way to include..." is a whitewash. Athletes from those countries were not able to compete in any sporting events last year because governing bodies that are members of the IOC were told not to allow them to compete, not to schedule competitions in those countries, etc.

Now Bach has reversed that so entities like the ISU will have no choice. International federations need to take a stand.
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It was always up to federation. Russians were not banned everywhere
 
From Kallas & Zelenskyy:


Kallas: "Disappointed by @Olympics decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to attend 2024 Paris games. Politically and morally wrong – time to strengthen isolation, not give in to Russia. Sport is a tool in Russia’s propaganda machine, ignoring that means siding with aggression."

Zelenskyy: "We know how often tyrannies try to use sports for their ideological interests. It is obvious that any neutral flag of Russian athletes is stained with blood. I invite Mr. Bach to Bakhmut. So that he could see with his own eyes that neutrality does not exist."
 
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