American biathlete Claire Egan, head of the International Biathlon Federation (IBU) athletes’ commission, shared her opinion on the fairness of exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions.
“As an American, I understand that my country is involved in many conflicts and is the aggressor in these conflicts. It is convenient for me to say that I have not always supported and regularly criticized the decisions of my government. I am lucky that there is freedom of expression in my country.
I don’t think you can compare the current situation with other conflicts. If the United States attacks Canada, I believe the sports community should react in exactly the same way as in the case of Russia and Belarus, with the same suspension. It will be fair.
But Russia and Belarus disrupted the Olympic reality by attacking Ukraine in February 2022. Now we are talking about this conflict – quoting the words of an American “Sport Express”.
Recall that the International Biathlon Union (IBU) announced last spring its decision to allow Belarusian and Russian biathletes to participate in the World Cup and IBU stages only as neutral athletes. As a result, the Russians decided to skip these competitions. In September, the organization extended the suspension period.
At the end of March, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that the Russians be allowed to have a neutral status if the athletes did not take an active part in supporting the conflict.
Formerly Claire Egan statedHe said that the decision to suspend Russian athletes was the worst decision in his life.