"The goals and objectives of world sports are distorted": Russia did not support the resolution on the "Olympic Truce"

A meeting of the UN General Assembly was held in New York, at which a resolution was adopted calling for the observance of the Olympic Truce for the period of the 2024 Games in Paris.

The document on behalf of the French government was presented by the head of the organizing committee of the 2024 Olympic Games, Tony Estanguet. And IOC President Thomas Bach called for its adoption. In his speech, the official again quoted the words from John Lennon's song "Give Peace a Chance" and spoke at length about the importance of sport as a force that unites people.

According to him, athletes cannot be held responsible for the actions of their governments or national Olympic committees. All athletes who qualify for the Games and abide by the rules must be able to participate in international competitions.

In addition, the official again expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the governments of some states are trying to influence sports, arrogating to themselves the right to decide which athletes can take part in competitions. In this discussion, there was also another, this time veiled, appeal to Russia, which is going to host the Friendship Games next year.

"As we have learned, some states are even planning to organize their own sports competitions with political overtones. And if the latter comes to pass, then sport will fuel tensions and contribute to divisions in the world... In a world of politically fragmented sport, there will no longer be international competitions in their true sense, and the holding of the Universal Olympic Games will become impossible," the IOC chief said.

As a result, 118 countries voted for the resolution, Russia and Syria abstained. As the diplomats noted, none of the nine points contains a word about the prohibition of political discrimination, which Bach spoke about. And the proposal to include this provision, according to the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, was ignored.

"Unfortunately, the resolution does not contain an important part that Russia proposed to include – provisions prohibiting discrimination in sports. Without rejecting the segregation of athletes on political, national, religious grounds, the goals and objectives of world sports are distorted and distorted," Zakharova told Sport-Express.

In addition, the representatives of the Russian Federation were confused by another paragraph of the document, which emphasizes the role of the IOC and the IPC in resolving the issue of athletes' access to competitions.

"Why is this text included? Did the facilitators aim to reward these bodies for their discriminatory decisions? My delegation has proposed the inclusion of a general provision prohibiting discrimination in sport ... But this amendment was not taken into account either. Together with a number of other delegations, we also proposed a compromise option – simply to quote the fourth principle of the Olympic Movement in the text... But the French facilitators did not agree to this either," said Maria Zabolotskaya, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN.

According to two-time Olympic champion in biathlon Dmitry Vasiliev, if the German does not reconsider his position, he will go down in history as the man who ruined world sports.

"The people who are supposed to make sure that the Olympic Charter is respected and that athletes are not involved in politics in any way, have done it themselves. After February 24, Thomas Bach simply recommended that all international federations suspend all Russians in all sports. And now he is lying, hypocritically declaring that athletes should not be held accountable for the actions of their governments. But it's obvious, he's a hypocrite and a common liar.

Actually, it is no longer possible to treat it in any other way. Bach will go down in history as the destroyer of the Olympic movement. He will never wash off what he did to him," Vasilyev said.

Dmitry Svishchev, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports, believes that the German is simply confused in his speeches. And he should admit the mistakes he made.

"Bach has seven Fridays a week. I don't understand what he wants to say in his speeches. He himself is confused and confuses everyone else. As long as he does not clearly say that athletes from Russia and Belarus have the right to participate without restrictions, this will be the case. They have to find the strength to accept it. Admit that the decision not to admit our athletes and Belarusians was a mistake. And then everything will fall into place!" – Match TV quotes Svishchev as saying.

And former track and field athlete Yolanda Chen does not see the point in this resolution at all, since the IOC has not yet allowed Russians and Belarusians to Paris.

"What do they mean by the word 'truce'? In the classical sense, this means that for the duration of the Games, everyone puts up with each other and participates in competitions together. As it is written in the Olympic Charter: wars stop, conflicts stop and everyone competes together. But after all, Russia and Belarus are not allowed to participate in the Games in Paris - what kind of truce can we talk about? It's incomprehensible," Chen told RT.