A senior Italian member of the International Olympic Committee has slammed the US for mixing politics with the Olympics in its “absurd” decision to include openly gay athletes in its official delegation to the Winter Games in Russia’s Sochi.
In a comment that has caused quite a stir, Mario Pescante also
described President Barack Obama’s move as political extortion,
according to Italian media.
“It's absurd that a country like that sends four lesbians to
Russia just to demonstrate that in their country gay rights have
[been established],” Mario Pescante said at an Italian OC
meeting on Wednesday, reported Associated Press, citing local
press. “The games should not be an occasion and a stage to
promote rights that sports support daily.”
Later, Pescante downplayed his rhetoric saying that he used the
“wrong terms” and that his words were taken out of
context, wrote RaiSport.
Clarifying his comments to AP, the Italian IOC member said
“of course” he was not against gays.
“I just wanted to make the point not to let politics
interfere with the Olympics,” he told the agency via phone.
USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky refused to comment on the matter.
For the first time since 2000, the American delegation to the
Olympics will not include the president, vice president or first
lady. Among the delegates that Obama picked to represent the
nation in Sochi are two openly-lesbian athletes – tennis legend
Billie Jean King, and hockey player Caitlin Cahow – and, also
figure skater Brian Boitano who came out as gay ahead of the
Games.
The decision is interpreted as a snub to Russia over the ban on
propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors
passed in the country last summer. The law - dubbed the
“anti-gay” law in the West – is seen as discriminatory towards
LGBT community by its critics. Gay rights activists and some
politicians called to boycott the Olympic Games in Russia in
protest against the law.
“We've seen boycotts, concerns over Aboriginal rights in
Australia, the Tibet issue in China. It's enough already,”
Pescante told AP. “There are always going to be issues
wherever the games are held, but the best way to combat these
issues is by letting the games unfold and sending thousands of
journalists to these places to report on what is going on
there,” Pescante, the head of the IOC's International
Relations Commission and a former IOC vice president said.
Meanwhile, Russia has repeatedly said that no one will be
discriminated against in Sochi. President Vladimir Putin
reiterated Friday that gay people have nothing to fear coming to
the Olympics. He emphasized that there is no criminal or
administrative responsibility for homosexual relations in Russia,
unlike many other countries.
“We don't outlaw anything and don't nab anyone,” Putin
said at a meeting with Sochi Olympics volunteers. “That's why
you can feel safe and free here but please leave our children in
peace.”
Putin also recalled that just like Russians respect foreign
traditions, Russian culture and traditions should be respected by
foreigners.
“We have our traditions and our culture,” he said.
“We treat any of our partners with respect but we request
that our traditions and our culture also be treated with
respect.”