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≡ INTEL REPORT ≡
On one hand, Russian sports officials continuously demand that their athletes to be reintegrated into international sports competition, while, on the other, ripping the International Olympic Committee for sanctions related to doping, the invasion of Ukraine and more.
Now, their allies in Belarus have joined the party.
On Friday, during a forum on Russia and sports in the southern Russian city of Ufa, Belarusian Sports and Tourism Minister Sergey Kovalchuk lashed out at the one candidate the Russian cannot stand to be elected as International Olympic Committee President next March, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (GBR):
“He only cares about his own career, and he uses the situation with Russian and Belarusian athletes for his own personal gain.
“Coe is currently running for the post of IOC head, and such approaches are of great concern. If he heads the international Olympic movement today, and it is already on its last legs, we propose calling on members of World Athletics to consider the issue of impeachment, since his policy is aimed at the collapse of the Olympic movement. Before it is too late.”
Coe is serving his third and final term as World Athletics President, originally elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2019 and 2023. He took over a federation in disarray under Lamine Diack (SEN), who was placed under house arrest by French authorities in 2015 and convicted in 2020 of corruption for covering up Russian doping cases. Since then, Coe has restored order, and has been emphasizing competitive opportunities and growth, although it has not reached the high worldwide profile and funding its most ardent supporters expect.
World Athletics has also been extremely stiff with Russia over its state-sponsored doping program from 2011-15, and has banned Russian entries in the aftermath of its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Russian government has now preparing its efforts to restore its athletes to international competition, with the Belarusian minister’s comments simply part of an evolving campaign to get someone else elected as IOC chief next March.
Another element is the consolidation of power within Russian sport to one person: Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Degtyarev directly last week at a meeting of the Council for the Development of Physical Culture and Sports that he supports Degtyarev as both Sports Minister and to be elected as the head of the Russian Olympic Committee:
“If our sports minister really does head the National Olympic Committee, then he – the minister and president of the National Olympic Committee in one person – will have more opportunities and powers to communicate with the regions, regulate work in the regions and work more closely with the federations.
“That is why I consider it possible to support this proposal by [Russian IOC member] Shamil Anvyarovich [Tarpishchev].
For his part, Degtyarev sees no conflict in holding both posts:
“I am a lawyer by my second education and as a minister and member of the government I must ask permission to nominate a non-profit organization for one or another elective post.
“The [Russian Olympic Committee] executive committee is scheduled for November 7, I am, in principle, ready to ask the president’s permission to run, and then the Olympic Assembly. We must understand that the National Olympic Committee is a self-governing non-profit organization. Combination is possible, one person for two seats on a non-profit basis; this is an absolutely workable scheme.”
Degtyarev is carefully navigating the Olympic Charter requirements of “autonomy” of National Olympic Committees from governments, although this scheme leaves no doubt of control whatsoever.
Said Degtyarev in an interview last week, his top priority is clear:
“Return to the Olympic Movement, in line with the contribution of Russian and Soviet sports to the international Olympic movement.
“And the restoration of the rights of all our athletes, this is definitely the course from which we will not deviate. Compliance with the Olympic Charter, sharing Olympic values, this is our main task. There is every reason to say that we are ready for dialogue, and we have many contacts, including with IOC members, unofficial ones.”
The next Russian target is the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan Cortina in Italy, and the head of the Russian Cross Country Skiing Federation, Elena Vyalbe, said the effort is continuing despite Russia’s current ban:
“We work, we are not outside these organizations, there is communication, the Ski Association receives all the documents from them, they respond to our letters, and so on. But it is probably more difficult for Olympic sports, international federations to make decisions, because they all have to be under the IOC. And as the IOC decides, that is what they do.
“I know that negotiations are currently underway, including on the part of our FIS president, with representatives of the International Olympic Committee on allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes in neutral status to participate in the next season, so that, perhaps, some licenses could be earned for the Olympic Games. But I am sure that no one will offer us the next Olympic Games with a flag and anthem.”
The next event which will help to determine Russia’s status for Milan Cortina 2026 and Los Angeles 2028 will be the IOC election next March in Greece.
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