Dominoes are starting to fall in the world sport. Following the announcement, two days earlier, of the return of Russian and Belarusian judokas to the international circuit, Ukraine announced on Monday May 1 that it had chosen to boycott the world championships in the discipline, scheduled for Qatar from May 7-14. A decision by the Ukrainian Judo Federation in accordance with the decree published by the Ukrainian government in early April, which prohibits the country’s athletes from competing in competitions where Russians or Belarusians take part.
In its announcement on Saturday April 29, the International Judo Federation (IJF) assures that Russian and Belarusian athletes will only be allowed to compete “under a neutral banner”. However, the Ukrainian Federation maintains that several Russian judokas are “active soldiers”, which “contradicts the latest recommendations of the International Olympic Committee”. At the end of March, the body based in Lausanne (Switzerland) had linked the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to “strict conditions”: no anthem or national flags, participation limited to individuals only – teams remaining excluded -, as long as they did not support the war in Ukraine and are not under contract with the army or the security services.
At the heart of the debate on a possible participation in the Paris Games, these questions are complex, as shown by the French collective Pour l’Ukraine, pour leur liberté et la notre!, which looked into the positions taken by the Russian athletes who distinguished themselves during the last Olympic Games and their links with the army and the police.
Olympic qualification at stake
A delicate subject, the question of the reintegration of Russian and Belarusian athletes into competitions has arisen since the beginning of the year – the athletes of the two countries having been banned from international sport in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. by Kremlin troops, with the help of Minsk, on February 24, 2022. Following the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), several international federations have announced the return of athletes from both countries to their competitions, almost a year later. a ban. Decisions vilified by Ukraine, while the neutrality of Russian athletes seems totally illusory.
In its statement on Saturday, the IJF recalled that the sport offers “equitable participation” and “equal opportunities for all judo athletes who pursue their Olympic dreams”. The Worlds counting in the establishment of the rankings fixing the qualifications for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the International Federation could not include the athletes whose countries have been banned.
And like its fencing counterpart, who had previously made a similar decision, the choice of the Ukrainian Judo Federation could greatly reduce the chances of its athletes participating in the high sports mass scheduled for the summer of 2024 in France. . The country, which had selected fourteen judokas for the world championships, will not score any points at the Doha Worlds.
