Olympian1010

I read that India confirmed they’ll send their B teams to the Commonwealth Games. Asian Games are too close to send a A teams to both.

Quite the moment from today‘s press conference.

Finally had the chance to watch the French Dispatch. I throughly enjoyed it.

That seems to be the direction most federations are going in at the moment.

Yes, they released a statement today that said both countries could not take part in ISSF Championships.

AP reports that no athletes have made it to Beijing yet. Link: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-kyiv-sports-europe-china-

You could argue it’s never existed in the Olympic Movement. Rule 50 prevents true freedom of expression at the Olympic Games. Plus, many users on here have alleged political or social discrimination within their own NOCs based on what athletes have said or their relationships with officials. I do agree that “loyalty tests” or “dissident tests” or whatever you want to label them are ethically dubious, but to claim freedom of expression is only being violated now is selective policy.

I mean…those athletes are representing a political entity. Their uniforms (in normal non-WADA sanction times) are adorned with the same flags as those of the soldiers invading another country, preventing athletes another country from being able to participate in, or even think about, sport. I understand the desire to see athletes from Russia or Belarus at competitions, but these are two counties that have repeatedly, and flagrantly, violated the rules of the Olympic Movement. Russia has broken the Olympic Truce three times in only two decades. They’ve also run a state-sponsored doping program, and had numerous other doping issues before and since that program was discovered. They also attempted to manipulate evidence during the investigation into those issues. Belarus has repeatedly discriminated against athletes on a political basis. They are also actively aiding a country in breaking the Olympic Truce. Like it or not, at base level, athletes are representatives of their countries in international sports. If your country is engaging in activity counter to the values of the Olympic Movement, it’s hard to argue your country deserves to be included in international competition.

I do think this a policy worth exploring. It could help organize a uniform response to military conflict and political crisis in the future.

AP reports that Sweden will also refuse to play Russia (no matter where the match is held).

The IWGA updated their qualifications page with a hyperlink feature. You can now click on the flag of the delegation to see the amount of quotas (and in some cases named provisional entries) of that country. Link: https://www.theworldgames.org/editions/Birmingham-USA-2022-13/qualifications/by-country