Olympian1010

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

I figure someone else can tackle the United States post, so I’ll take It was great to see Katie Tannenbaum compete at the Olympic Games. I know she’s been trying to qualify for a decade, if not longer. Unfortunately, Covid-19 mucked up her experience quite a bit, but I’m glad she still got to compete and get her moment in the spotlight. She had limited training runs and time on track (I heard she may have only had two runs before the competition ), but she managed to put forth her best effort given the circumstances. Overall, a good Olympics for

You might want to add “Normandy” to the thread title or something since the ISF intends to have two Gymnasiades this year (2022 edition, and the rescheduled 2020 edition that is scheduled to take place after the 2022 edition)

Weird, so Monaco does technically have an official medal then?