Russian sport supremacy under threat

Ritika Das

(Indraprastha College for Women (IPCW)University of Delhi)

We often hear prominent world leaders and distinguished personalities using the phrase 'keep politics away from sports' or stop 'politicizing sports' but as it is rightfully said, it's always easier to say than do.

Until the recently concluded Beijing Winter Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had cleared its stand to always keep sports above and ahead of politics. But as a consequence of the recent ongoing military crisis of Russia invading Ukraine, the IOC became the first international sports organization to take a step forward in boycotting Russia and Belarus from participating in future Olympic competitions and also further requested the other international sports organizations to keep both the countries out of other world sports events.

The Paralympic Committee has also declared that it would stop the Russian and Belarus athletes from participating in Winter Paralympics. This was followed by the FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) indefinitely suspending Russian representatives from the tournament and also probably disallowing them to participate in the upcoming Football World Cup scheduled in November 2022. Other associations like the Rugby World Association, Ice Skating Association, Tennis Association etc have also followed suit. And even if some of them are allowed to participate, their national flags and national anthem would not be a part of the ongoing competition. The Champions League that was supposed to be held in St. Petersburg has also been stripped off along with the Russian Formula One Grand Prix. Other than banning Russian participants, many sporting clubs like the German soccer club Schalke 04 cancelled its sponsorship with Gazprom, a popular natural gas company in Russia.

All this indicates the 'supposed' plan of the world community trying to put pressure on the Russian government to stop the war against Ukraine not only through political and economic boycott but also through sports that are by either refusing to compete with the Russian athletes or altogether banning Russia from participating in any sports events.

This situation seems to be a replay of historic South Africa's Apartheid Movement in the 1960s which was against the oppression and exploitation that the original inhabitants of the country, the black community had to suffer at the hands of the majority group, the white community. The Apartheid movement not only received support from many countries but also resulted in the banning of South Africa's white community to participate in or organizing any of the international sports events for almost two decades. The UN General Assembly adopted the International Convention against Apartheid in Sports in December 1985, with the IOC then too being the main instrument in slamming boycotts and sanctions which was again followed by other international tournaments.

The country that took pride in its athlete's brilliant performances in world events and termed itself as a sports-obsessed country had to face the bitter boycott for many years and when it was finally lifted, the sports culture in South Africa took a lot of time to adjust to the changes in the international sports arena. The racial segregations between the white and black players were still there, even though very subtle. All those internal problems along with the fact that they were alienated from international competitions for a long period did a lot of damage to South African sports and faced tremendous problems adjusting to the changing world sports order.

Just like South Africa, Russia has always been a sport-loving nation, especially under its Judoka leader, Vladimir Putin who often credits sports as the main anchor of his life. But due to his decision to invade Ukraine, the International Judo Federation (IJF) has suspended Mr President's status as Honorary President and Ambassador of the federation.

Hence, observing the similarities between the Apartheid movement and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, even though the military actions that the Russian government is undertaking has been justified because it is for the best interest of Russia and its people, the nation's inability to compete in world sports events will be a big blow to Russia's idea of world dominance. In the modern era when sports have taken the centre stage, a country can never become a superpower by using arms and ammunition only.

The pressure, in the form of boycotting and banning that the world is exerting on the Russian government, might not easily break the military strength of the nation but it may surely test the patience of the common Russians, especially the athletes who believe in world dominance through sports supremacy.