Because of the war the whole world has decided to ban Russia from participating in mostly everything, from business to travelling. Even in sports, where politics are seen by most athletes as not welcome. In the FIFA World Cup, we saw how the discussion about involving politics in sports is very split. For instance, FIFA refused to acknowledge the pain and suffering of women in Iran, as well as not showing support for the LGBTQ+ community. However, when talking about the 2024 Olympic games in Paris, there has been a lot of talk about Russian athletes being banned from participating. That raises the question, should politics be a part of sports, and when should situations like war and human rights violations be considered when deciding who can participate in sports? Apparently, it is only when the war reaches Europe that politics should be involved, who cares about women in Iran, who cares about wars in other parts of the world, who cares about human right violations against the LGBTQ+ community in Arabic countries? Now, I do agree that we should do everything we can to stop the war in Ukraine and show support. However, I also think that if we let politics into one athletic setting, we should involve it in all. The Russians that support the war should not be allowed to participate, but then athletes who support hurting and killing women for not wearing a hijab the right way should not be either. Sport should be a place for peace, support, and diversity, not war and violence.
Ukrainian athletes have threatened to boycott the Paris games if Russian and Belarusian athletes compete, which is completely understandable. But why shouldn’t Russian athletes who despise the war be allowed to compete, I truly think that they could be helpful in the war. If they were able to compete, not for their country Russia, and instead speak up about the war and how Russia must stop, then they should be allowed. They could convince more Russians to stand up against Putin and his regime, and make people understand that attacking Ukraine was not just a demilitarising mission, it was the beginning of a cruel war. Politics are and will be a part of sports whether we like it or not, now we just have to decide what politics we want involved. Because just ignoring what’s going on in the world is hopeless and not helping anyone.
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