Russian Athletes Allowed in the Olympics

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about Russian athletes not being allowed to participate, and I discussed the possibility that since they are athletes, they should be allowed but as individual athletes and not represent their country. Therefore, they will not be able to represent Russia or Belarus, and instead will have to participate under Olympic flag. Funny enough this has happened before when several Russian athletes had participated in a state-sponsored doping program, and they had found evidence of Russian laboratories manipulating drug tests before and during the Sochi Olympics in 2014. The Olympic committee has decided that this was the way to go, despite the Ukraine President Zelensky’s wish to exclude them entirely. I completely understand his wish and how hurtful it must be to allow people from Russia to compete, however, not all Russians stand behind the war. Many Russians believe that this is Putin’s war, not Russia’s, and that they are trapped inside their country watching all the horror happening. Some of them might even be athletes just wanting to participate in their sport. As a squash player for my national team in Norway, it would hurt me to not play for my country but that is because I am proud of my country. However, if I came from a country like Russia, I would do anything to not represent my country while still being able to participate in my sport. I would proudly participate as an individual and do everything I could to support Ukraine. Letting the Russian and Belarus athletes participate without a flag can be a good thing, they can be the voice for their people that does not want war. It is also a sign of support from the organisation to refuse Russia and Belarus as the only country to not being able to participate. Because that is what they are doing. They are letting athletes participate, but they are still boycotting their country. The athletes can explain how life is in Russia, and show that what the government is doing, is wrong. Most likely, the athletes that support Russia would probably not want to participate without their flag, and we can hope for athletes that despise Putin and want this war to stop. It could be interesting if the Olympic committee made rules that if any athlete participating expressed their support for Russia, they would be disqualified. Maybe that could prevent politics from ruining the Olympics. Maybe it will all end in a disaster. No matter how it will end, I do believe athletes should be able to participate in possibly the biggest tournament in their life.