The International Ski Federation (FIS) for a long time remained one of the few organizations that did not follow the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and allowed Russians and Belarusians to compete in competitions held under its auspices.
The FIS emphasized that athletes cannot be excluded on the basis of gender, race, nationality or sexual orientation.
However, under pressure from Norway, Sweden and Finland, this decision on Tuesday, March 1, still had to be changed.
“In order to ensure the safety of all athletes at FIS competitions, the board of the organization unanimously decided, in accordance with the recommendation of the IOC, that no Russian or Belarusian athlete should participate in any FIS competitions of any level until the end of the 2021/2022 season,” the statement reads. the official communication of the international federation, published in the afternoon.
The aggravation of the situation began on Tuesday morning with a statement that the heads of the federations of Sweden, Norway and Finland sent another official letter to the FIS, in which they asked to reconsider their position on Russian and Belarusian skiers.
Then the organizers of the last two stages of the World Cup, scheduled in Drammen and Oslo, decided to have a psychological impact on the teams and force the athletes to refuse to participate in the competition.
The main sponsor of the tournament, the company Coop, for example, was going to paint its logo in blue and yellow, which is usually placed on T-shirts with the starting numbers of skiers.
In addition, the audience was asked to come to the stands with Ukrainian symbols.
The Russian Ski Racing Federation reacted with surprise to these reports.
As vice-president of the FLGR Sergey Kryanin noted, athletes should not pay attention to such things.
“I don’t know who encourages fans to come with Ukrainian symbols.
I don't have that information yet.
Perhaps these are yet another fakes ... Our work is simple, we must prepare for the start, go out and show a certain result.
Everything else should not bother us at all.
Will there be fans with Ukrainian flags or will they repaint something.
For a person who competes, this is absolutely unimportant.
Of course, psychologically it is possible to affect.
The situation is tense now.
But athletes do their job: they have to run fast and bring medals.
For this purpose, they come to tournaments, ”Kryanin said in an interview with RT.
Provocative actions worked halfway.
The Belarusian national team immediately refused to participate in the World Cup stage.
Domestic skiers continued, in spite of everything, to train and prepare for the start.
Then, without waiting for the decision of the FIS, the organizers themselves decided not to allow the Russians to compete.
This was stated by the head of the Norwegian Ski Association Eric Röste.
“We had hoped that the FIS would make such a decision on behalf of all skiing, but now the Ski Association can't wait any longer.
Therefore, the board decided in advance to inform the FIS that Russian and Belarusian athletes will not participate in competitions in Norway, ”the VG official quotes.
However, the World Cup stage is held under the auspices of the international federation, so the last word was hers.
According to sports lawyer Yuri Patsev, the statements made by the Norwegians should have entailed sanctions from the FIS, since the sovereignty of the organization is thus called into question.
“The World Cup is held by the FIS, not the Norwegians.
This is their competition, they decide who is allowed to start and who is not.
FIS provides the technical part, judging, awarding, determines the winners.
And if someone interferes in this work, then at least the FIS should receive a sharply negative reaction.
It should not be.
Otherwise the whole system will collapse.
If each country starts to do what it wants, then why do we need an international federation?
For sanctions, you need to look at the FIS regulations.
Surely there is more than one measure.
Maybe for the first time to warn the Norwegians to hold the competition, as expected.
But if I were FIS, I would have reacted very harshly.
This behavior is unacceptable.
And here we are no longer talking about Russian skiers, here the sovereignty of the FIS in skiing is called into question, ”the specialist said.
The lawyer, unfortunately, was mistaken: the international federation went on about the countries.
According to the coach of the Russian national team Yuri Borodavko, the organizers gave her an ultimatum.
“The Norwegians flatly refused to comply with the FIS requirements.
They said that if the international federation obliges them to hold competitions with the participation of Russians, they will refuse the stage.
The Norwegian Federation, in fact, delivered an ultimatum to the FIS.
Therefore, we have no choice but to pack our things and fly home, ”the specialist explained.
According to Kryanin, sports are the first to suffer from such decisions, since the strongest must compete in competitions.
“What do skiers have to do with what is happening?
Their task is to compete in their favorite sport, no matter what it is.
And the strongest must perform.
We all, on the contrary, must fight against discrimination.
I am for everyone to have a chance to perform.
It doesn't matter what nationality you are, what color your skin is.
Equal conditions must be created.
It's the same as if they were not allowed to compete on the basis of skin color.
Why should we, by nationality, not allow anyone?
he added.
At the same time, the Norwegians will not compete on Thursday in the sprint either.
According to the press service of the team, the skiers unanimously contracted the coronavirus.
These are, in particular, Johannes Klebo, Eric Valnes, Paul Golberg, Howard Töugbøl and Sindr Skar.