Putin points to attempts of employing global sports arena for ‘unnatural norms’ propaganda

UFA, October 18. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out on Thursday to attempts of turning the Olympic Movement into a platform for geopolitical games and propaganda of unnatural norms.
“Clearly, there are attempts to turn the international sports and the Olympic movement into a geopolitical playground, rather than an arena for fair competition, a place for promoting a destructive neo-liberal agenda, unnatural norms, pseudo-freedoms, as well as rejecting traditional values that have been held by the vast majority of countries and peoples for centuries, and even millennia,” he said speaking at the ‘Russia – Country of Sports’ international sports forum.
“I am certain that the global majority, just like Russia, chooses a different path to follow that is based on equality, openness, and mutual respect in all areas of cooperation, including the economy, culture, science, education, healthcare, trade, politics, and, of course, sports,” he continued.
“Drawing on our extensive experience of hosting large-scale sporting events, including the Winter Olympics in Sochi and the FIFA World Cup, we are promoting new cooperation formats based on the true ideals and principles of sports such as solidarity, fairness, the celebration of human spirit, strength, intellect, as well as generosity of spirit and respect for the dignity of our competitors, strong competitors,” Putin said. “We have respect for all our competitors.”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board convened for a meeting at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, on March 19-20 and following the opening day it decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in the Parade of Athletes and also exclude them from the 2024 Olympics overall medal standings.
The IOC, however, ruled that Russian athletes, cleared to participate in the 2024 Olympics, would not have to sign anything denouncing their country’s special military operation in Ukraine.
On October 12, 2023, the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) until further notice after the Russian organization included the Olympic councils of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions as its members.
The Swiss-based CAS registered on November 6, 2023 an appeal from the ROC against the IOC’s decision on the Russian governing Olympic body’s suspension.
The suspension meant that the ROC cannot act as a national Olympic committee or receive financing from the Olympic movement. The IOC however reserved the right to clear Russian athletes to take part in the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 as neutrals. Later, IOC President Thomas Bach said that Russian athletes should have no affiliation with the ROC if they want to compete at the Olympic Games.