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Feb. 28, 2022 — Could a figure skater win a ground war for the Ukraine?
There are missiles and gunshots aplenty across Ukranian territory, but there has also been a noose of soft power being applied to the Russian economy.
There have been freezes on banking, offshore assets of Russian oligarchs, and a no-fly zone. But some of the quickest and potentially most devastating actions have been in the world of sport.
Just four years after FIFA was canoodling with the Russian regime, soccer’s world governing body has banned the Russian national team from competition. It has even stripped Russia of the hosting duties of some of this summer’s last-gasp European qualifiers.
UEFA, the European governing body of soccer, has ejected Russian teams from its club competitions, and has stripped St. Petersburg from hosting duties of the UEFA Champions League final.
Formula One has also cancelled the Russian Grand Prix, which is held at Sochi.
Oh, and speaking of Sochi — the International Olympic Committee came down today hard on the host of the 2018 Olympics. It recommended that all world governing bodies of sport, and organizers of major international championship events, to ban Russian athletes and officials from international events.
This, I think, throws a major curveball at the Russian Olympic Committee and, specifically, the coaches of the figure skating team. Not so you’ve noticed, but there is still an open question as to whether the ROC’s figure skating delegation in the team skate competed fairly at Beijing 2022, seeing as top female skater Kamila Valieva had a positive drug test last December, but was still allowed to compete in the team finale.
Now, here’s the thing. There is still an open case before the IOC regarding the team finale, as well as Valieva’s positive drugs test. Does the IOC’s recommendation banning Russian athletes and official events also include any judicial actions in their aftermath? In other words, is it possible that the International Skating Union may rule against the Russia Olympic Committee in a default judgment, given the lack of standing of Russian athletes in international sport?
And, if that is the case, would that be enough of an inducement for the Russian government, and sports-hungry Vladimir Putin in particular, to end his escapade in Ukraine?
Given just how much Putin seems to value what sports figures think of him, I’ll be interested to see what his next move is.
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