Two-thirds of Russian athletes approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to compete as supposed neutrals at the Paris Olympics have expressed support for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine or have links to the military, according to a new report by Global Rights Compilance. Yet the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the French hosts of the Games have come out to play down the report.

Contrary to this report is the group of 15 Russian and 16 Belarusian athletes who have accepted invitations to compete under a neutral flag at the Paris Games. Athletes from both countries were banned from world sport following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but the IOC has overseen their gradual return under a neutral flag and under strict conditions that they will have to meet.

Even so, Global Rights says: ‘Despite being presented with clear evidence of violations by Global Rights Compliance, the IOC has failed to act in accordance with its own rules, and by allowing in athletes who support an illegal and brutal invasion, the IOC is effectively demonstrating that one state can violently invade another and still be welcome on the world stage. In response, the IOC told AFP that it would not comment on individual cases or the review panel's decisions, saying that ‘the athletes have been examined in accordance with the decision of the IOC executive board and the principles that were established. We have nothing further to add.

Clean selection process

The selection process for these Russian athletes has also been defended by the office of French President Emmanuel Macron, who, although he has not made a personal statement, an Elysée Palace source said: ‘The announced volume is extremely low, which demonstrates the reality of the control system deployed. We have every reason to believe that this investigation was carried out seriously’.

According to Thursday's report, several Russian athletes have taken a pro-war or pro-Russian side, including Russian cyclist Alena Ivanchenko, 20, who in March 2022 ‘Liked’ a social media post featuring an image of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin with the caption ‘A truce with the enemy is possible after his destruction’.

It also adds cyclist Tamara Dronova, 30, who has been charged with violating two rules, allegedly having links to national security agencies and pro-war behaviour in public, according to the report. Also, canoeist Olesia Romasenko, 34, is allegedly a member of the Central Sports Club of the Army (CSKA), a Russian sports institution subordinate to the Ministry of Defence. Vesnina, who was born in Ukraine, ‘liked’ publications about ‘military exploits’ of Russian soldiers killing Ukrainians and publications displaying the pro-war ‘Z’ symbol, according to the report.

Other Russian athletes mentioned in the report include canoeist Alexei Korovashkov, swimmer Evgenii Somov, trampoline gymnast Anzhela Bladtceva and tennis players Mirra Andreeva, Pavel Kotov, Diana Shnaider and Elena Vesnina.
Wayne Jordash, president of Global Rights Compliance was also critical of the ethics of this competition; ‘If the IOC's stated goal is to “build a better world through sport”, the IOC must take steps to demonstrate that it and its corporate partners do more than simply talk about ethics and human rights for all’. The group said it was alerting the IOC's corporate partners, including Airbnb, Coca Cola, Visa, Deloitte, Panasonic and Carrefour, to its findings, adding that they ‘may be unwittingly complicit in supporting Russia's criminal military action’.

Indeed, since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, some 450 Ukrainian athletes have died on the battlefield. In order to be invited to the Games, ‘neutral individual athletes’ who achieved good enough results to qualify had to pass a double check. First by the international sports federations and then by the IOC, to ensure that they did not actively support the war in Ukraine and had no links to their countries' armies.