Twelve years ago, the 2014 Winter Olympics were held in Russia. These was also the last Winter Olympics in which the Russian team (or lack thereof) didn’t garner significant controversy. The 2014 Games were followed by the government-led doping scandal that got Russia banned from the 2018 Games, and then another doping scandal in 2022, and now the banning of the Russian team once again due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. To be clear, not all Russian athletes are banned but instead compete as “Individual Neutral Athletes” and must not have shown support for Russia’s war on Ukraine. Despite Russia’s continued onslaught, the possibility of the ban soon being relaxed is making headlines. The current rules are being applied laxly, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recommended that Russian athletes be allowed to represent their country in the Youth Olympics this year. The new IOC President has also publicly implied openness to relaxing the ban. It is not hard to imagine the Russian team being admitted to the 2028 Summer Olympics, even if the war continues. This would be a grave error. I understand the concerns about politicizing the Olympics and hurting athletes; however, I am well positioned to place those concerns in perspective, having represented Ukraine twelve years ago when the Winter Olympics were held in Sochi, Russia, as a skater on the Ukrainian Olympic team.
I am American, born and raised, but represented Ukraine for seven years with my Ukrainian ice dance partner. I worked closely with Russian coaches and athletes, as did most of the Ukrainian athletes I knew. Russian and Ukrainian skaters trained together, chatted in Russian in the locker room, and even shared an apartment building in the Sochi Olympic Village. Even as Russia teetered on the brink of invading Crimea during the 2014 Olympics, I could never have imagined that twelve years later I would be advocating for the indefinite exclusion of the Russian team. Unfortunately, much has changed since then, as I am forcefully reminded when I read of some Russian skaters with whom I shared the ice openly supporting Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.
The rationale that sporting officials have given for readmitting Russia to the Olympics (or other major sporting events) tends to boil down to two primary objections:
- Banning a particular country for misbehavior risks politicizing an event that should be apolitical.
- It isn’t fair to punish athletes for the actions of their government. Even if we allow them to compete as neutrals, taking away their ability to represent their homeland is an unjust punishment.
While international sporting officials usually express themselves differently, I think these objections also lie at the heart of some American conservatives’ claim (fueled by Russian propaganda) that Russia has been the victim of “cancel culture.” These objections include some valid concerns; I don’t want to see an increasingly politicized Olympic movement, and as a former Olympic athlete, I understand that being unable to compete under their own flag might seem like a crushing blow to some athletes. Banning countries is not a punishment I would want to see doled out lightly. However, in the case of Russia’s Olympic team, these concerns are badly misplaced.
The Olympic movement should not be political, but by seeking to remain apolitical at all costs, it risks becoming a joke and slipping into irrelevance. Under Putin, Russia has systematically used the Olympics as a launching pad for its wars of aggression, actually beginning wars with enormous international ramifications during the Olympic truce: Georgia in 2008, Crimea (Ukraine) in 2014, and then Ukraine in 2022. As if this weren’t enough to justify banning Russia from the Games, let us recall the particular horror and global consequences of the war in Ukraine: the systematic civilian torture and killings, the brutal crackdowns on all but state-approved churches in Russian-occupied Ukraine, the callous willingness to plunge Europe into its largest land war since WWII, risking global security for generations to come. Putin’s Russia has made a mockery of all the Olympics stand for. Welcoming Russia back into Olympic Village while this war rages would seriously undermine the legitimacy of the Olympic movement and, in the name of apolitical neutrality, would grant Putin a geopolitical win.
As we have seen in recent days, American Olympians can publicly criticize their government, and all the President can do is complain. The situation is radically different in Russia, where there has long been an unholy alliance between government and sport, and the prowess of their Olympic athletes is nearly synonymous with Russians‘ sense of power in world affairs. Russia’s repeated and gross violations of the Olympic values and the real risk that Olympic medals won under the Russian flag will further solidify Putin’s grip on the information landscape easily outweigh the desire of Russian athletes to compete under their own flag. This is all the more true if the proposed easing of the ban were to allow athletes who have supported the war on Ukraine. Competing in the Olympics is not a right, but a privilege that comes with responsibility. Athletes who use their platform to promote a war with all the characteristics mentioned above have already violated the most basic rules of fair play and have no business being held up as exemplars of Olympic values.
With the 2028 Summer Olympics set to be held in Los Angeles and the Trump administration seemingly eager to mend diplomatic ties with Russia, I worry that there will be extra pressure on the IOC to readmit Russia to the Games. This would be a defeat, not just for the Ukrainian team, but for the Olympic movement and for all who are committed to peace in Ukraine. Pope Leo XIV made headlines last week with his call for reinforcing the Olympic truce—a call Ukraine quickly reiterated. We should heed the words of the American pope and insist that if the Russian flag is to arrive with the Olympic torch on American soil, it must be preceded by a peaceful and just settlement of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
