Russian President Vladimir Putin told an athletics forum on Thursday that the Olympic movement is now a far cry from the ideals of its modern reinventors, with politics trumping sportsmanship and athletes suffering discrimination due to their ethnicity.
“Unfortunately, much has changed since the time of [Pierre] de Coubertin and [Aleksey] Butlovsky, and some things have been lost for good,” he said at the XI International Sports Forum in the Russian city of Perm.
Russia has learned that being invited to the Olympic Games is apparently “not an unconditional right of the best athletes, but a privilege that can be earned with political gestures,” according to Putin.
Access to competition is being used to pressure people “who have no connection to politics” to accept certain points of view, which effectively amounts to “racist, ethnic discrimination,” Putin claimed.
The Russian leader added that he believes this approach contradicts the very nature of sports, which he said holds a value “that cannot be betrayed, canceled, exchanged, or sold.”
Many international athletic organizations banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing as a retaliation for the Ukraine crisis last year. Some have since concluded that the blanket prohibition was discriminatory and allowed nationals from the two states to participate under a neutral flag, provided they meet specific political criteria.
The slight relaxation was met with resistance from Kiev and some of its foreign backers, such as Poland and the UK. Events where Russian athletes were admitted suffered from threats of boycott, last-minute cancellations, and refusal by host nations to let undesired participants cross their borders.
Last week, the International Olympic Committee announced the suspension “until further notice” of Russia’s national Olympic committee. Moscow called the decision “politically motivated” and a form of “deliberate segregation” infringing on athletes’ rights.
In his speech at Thursday’s event, Putin stressed that Russia has the capabilities and experience to host high-level sporting events on its own. He said the country will cooperate with nations that “share the traditional values and principles of sports,” naming China as an example.