Today I sent the following email to Yul Jae Kim, President of the ISU, and Tron Espeli, VP for Speed Skating, and will send the same email to each member of the ISU council.
Because the emails are going to the public NGB email address I am sending each email separately so in each case I can make the
subject line:
Attention Mr/Ms <name of council member>: re skaters from Russia and Belarus
The names of the council members and the email addresses of their respective NGB's are public and are listed here:
Many of the ISU Council members have social media accounts. Please keep in mind that they are, for the most part, private citizens. If you...
keepskatingsafeandfree.blogspot.com
Although this list includes links to their SM I think it's probably best to contact them in a more formal way. Some of their SM is obviously personal FB, insta, etc, so emailing their NGB may be a best way to begin to get their attention.
Please feel free to simply copy/paste my email. I don't think it matters. What matters is the number of people voicing their concerns even it all comes with the same wording. Or of course you may want to make changes or write your own.
Anyway here's the email I sent:
Dear Mr Kim/Mr Espeli/Ms Samaranch/etc (Whether they are male or female is pretty obvious. The Japanese member is a man)
I am contacting you with my concerns about re-admitting Russian and Belarusian athletes to ISU competitions.
The original reason for the ban was Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine, a sovereign nation. This situation has not changed, therefore these athletes should still be banned.
Russia continues to violate the concept of fair play through its unprovoked attack on Ukraine, thus sabotaging another member nation's ability to compete in the sport, and endangering the lives of this nation’s athletes.
Who determines whether an athlete from Russia or Belarus meets the IOC definition of an Individual Neutral Athlete? What does neutral mean - that the athlete is neither for nor against the war? All Russian athletes are state-funded and cannot, therefore, be neutral.
As you can see I have grave concerns about this situation. It seems clear-cut to me that nothing has changed, and that to speak of "neutral" athletes makes a mockery of all that Ukraine has endured.
Finally, given the aggressive behaviour of some fans from the Russian diaspora at recent sporting events, can you guarantee the security and safety of Ukrainian, and Ukrainian-born skaters who represent other countries, or of the many other skaters who have expressed vocal, sustained support for the Ukrainian cause? Will these skaters be safe at ISU events if Russian and Belarusian athletes are permitted to compete?
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely
Your name here
ETA to change the form of address at the beginning of the email.
That's never fun. And thank you! I just finished sending all of mine. May we be a tsunami of objection to lifting the ban.
