Sport is an ambassador of peace, it allows us to find a common language not only between athletes, but also between states and peoples, but, unfortunately, statesmen often use sport for political purposes. «Sport is outside politics», we often hear. But politics is often linked to sports, although politicians themselves either have nothing to do with sports, or using it as a lever of pressure in interstate relations, ignore the principles of Olympism, which are described in the Olympic Charter. Let's turn to it:
Recognizing that sport occurs within the framework of society, sports organizations within the Olympic Movement shall apply political neutrality. They have the rights and obligations of autonomy, which include freely establishing and controlling the rules of sport, determining the structure and governance of their organizations, enjoying the right of elections free from any outside influence and the responsibility for ensuring that principles of good governance be applied.
We get a contradiction.
Therefore, the purpose of our work is to consider cases of the introduction of politics in sports and its impact on the Olympic movement.
Object of research: Olympic movement.
Subject of research: political aspects in the Olympic movement.
Research methods: analysis of literary sources, induction, deduction, questionnaire.
Every step of foreign policy relations is accompanied by their reflection on the citizens of the country. This is no exception among athletes, as they are representatives of their country at the international level, which can be pressured from the outside [1].
Here are examples concerning athletes from Russia, when they were massively suspended from participating in competitions and deprived of medals of the Olympic Games in Sochi. After reviewing the appeals, CAS satisfied them in 28 athletes and partially satisfied 11 athletes out of 42. The sanctions were annulled, the results were restored.
Appeals upheld — no ADRV — sanctions annulled 24
- Dmitry Trunenkov (bobsleigh) 25
- Aleksei Negodailo (bobsleigh) 26
- Olga Stulneva (bobsleigh) 27
- Liudmila Udobkina (bobsleigh) 28
- Aleksander Tretiakov (skeleton)
- Sergei Chudinov (skeleton)
- Elena Nikitina (skeleton) 29
- Olga Potylitsyna (skeleton) 30
- Maria Orlova (skeleton) 31
- Alexander Legkov (cross-country skiing) 32
- Evgeniy Belov (cross-country skiing) 33
- Maxim Vylegzhanin (cross-country skiing) 34
- Alexey Petukhov (cross-country skiing) 35
- Nikita Kryukov (cross-country skiing) 36
- Alexander Bessmertnykh (cross-country skiing) 37
- Evgenia Shapovalova (cross-country skiing) 38
- Natalia Matveeva (cross-country skiing) 39
- Olga Fatkulina (speed skating)
- Alexander Rumyantsev (speed skating)
- Ivan Skobrev (speed skating) 40
- rtem Kuznetcov (speed skating) 41
- Tatyana Ivanova (luge) 42
- Albert Demchenko (luge)
- Ekaterina Lebedeva (ice hockey)
- Ekaterina Pashkevich (ice hockey)
- Tatiana Burina (ice hockey)
- Anna Shchukina (ice hockey)
- Ekaterina Smolentseva (ice hockey)
Appeals partially upheld — ADRV confirmed
Aleksandr Zubkov (bobsleigh) Alexey Voevoda (bobsleigh) Alexander Kasyanov (bobsleigh) Aleksei Pushkarev (bobsleigh) Ilvir Khuzin (bobsleigh)
Julia Ivanova (cross-country skiing)
Yulia Chekaleva (cross-country skiing) Anastasia Dotsenko (cross-country skiing) Galina Skiba (ice hockey)
Anna Shibanova (ice hockey)
Inna Dyubanok (ice hockey)
Hearing postponed
Olga Zaytseva (biathlon) Olga Vilukhina (biathlon) Yana Romanova (biathlon) [2].
And here we can talk about a biased attitude towards athletes, they were acquitted a few days before the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, deprived of the opportunity to participate here, to continue their sports career.
There were controversial situations at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro — the suspension and disqualification of Russian athletes, the Paralympic team, violation of the rules in athletics, and in Tokyo — disqualification in walking, evaluation in rhythmic gymnastics, etc.
Sport is an area of interest for both an individual (athlete) and people in general. Peoples make up the world civilization, therefore, all the inhabitants of the planet are interested in sports progress. For an athlete, sport is a profession, a whole life, for individuals and groups of people — entertainment (football, volleyball, etc., familiar to everyone), active recreation, ways of improving health, forming a healthy lifestyle. The need of society forms a request for sports as a phenomenon of social development, and, ascending from mass participation in sports to sportsmanship, the athlete supports this interest, and the state regulates the athlete's activities through laws, programs that make up the state policy in the field of sports, financing.
We conducted a survey among 252 people who are athletes, coaches and fans on the following issues:
- Do you think the pressure on the athletes of a particular country in the international space is a political lever?
– yes — 228 people (90 %);
– no — 24 people (10 %).
- Do you think international sport currently meets the needs of the world community and the goals of Olympism?
– yes, it satisfies — 95 (38 %)
– no, it does not satisfy — 157 (62 %).
- Do you think it is possible to change the situation so that sports and attitudes towards it are objective?
– yes, it is possible — 79 (31 %);
– no, impossible — 173 (69 %).
Based on the analysis of the literature and the data obtained, we believe that one of the most important activities of the state should be sport in its independent state, but world politics, the rivalry of states, often result in infringement of the rights of athletes, depending on the aggravation of the specific political situation of countries, which contradicts the equal treatment of athletes from different countries (the principle of Olympism). One of the most inhumane examples is that the most vulnerable in these confrontations, demarches and other things is the meaning of an athlete's life, his health, his future, his records — everything that is contained in several Olympic cycles. This is the imperfection of modern international and national instruments of democracy.
The state should not interfere in the fragile mechanisms of what is most important to a person — enlightenment, education, upbringing.
In this situation, we can say that the Olympic Games have lost their quality, although the goal of Olympism is to put sport at the service of the harmonious development of mankind in order to build a peaceful society that cares about preserving human dignity. It would be reasonable for the world community to take responsibility by declaring that sport should be removed from politics at the legislative level of national and international systems — all this will benefit world sport, and its importance will increase [3].
Perhaps it would be relevant for the leading countries to adopt a ban on the participation of politics in sports, to create an international mechanism that would protect sports from external influence on it. The state system requires maximum independence of the sports apparatus from the lowest to the highest levels, where the refusal of the states participating in the Olympic movement from using tools in foreign policy that can influence the course of the processes of natural development of sports, as a national heritage of mankind, will be considered.
By introducing such a mechanism in the future, we will be able to withdraw athletes from the sphere of political confrontation. Sad stories of disqualification, disrespectful attitude between rival countries, as well as between athletes, judges, and various specialists will remain in the past.
The implementation of such a model of interstate interaction consists in the development of international political institutions, where all its participants will benefit. Independence is the key to the successful development of complex social systems, which is what sport is.
References:
1. Anna Farmaki, Prokopis Christou, Alexis Saveriades, Elena Spanou‐Tripinioti, Perceptions of Pafos as European Capital of Culture: Tourism stakeholder and resident perspectives, International Journal of Tourism Research, 10.1002/jtr.2257, 21, 2, (234–244), (2018).
2. Media release / Electronic access URL: https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Media_Release__decision_RUS_IOC_.pdf — (Accessed: May 12, 2024)
3. Olympic charter / Electronic access URL: https://olympics.com/ioc/olympic-charter — (Accessed: May 12, 2024)
