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The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has approved an appeal to foreign Governments proposing a ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes entering their territory.
Olympic gold medallist and member of the Ukrainian Parliament Zhan Beleniuk states the motion has been passed in an attempt to prevent Russians and Belarusians from participating in international sports competitions.
This comes in protest of the most recent International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendations that saw athletes from the two nations reinstated to global sport.
This was under the conditions that they competed as individual neutrals, did not support the war in Ukraine, and were not affiliated with the military.
However, Ukraine is determined for an outright ban to be implemented.
Almost all International Federations have followed the IOC’s advice except World Athletics for one.
The body’s President, IOC member and double Olympic champion Sebastian Coe, is adamant that Russia and Belarus should not participate and has stated that “athletics will not be on the wrong side of history”.
One organisation that has taken a different stance to that of World Athletics is the International Fencing Federation (FIE).
At the FIE World Championships in Milan last month, Ukraine’s four-time Olympic medallist Olha Kharlan was removed from the women’s sabre competition after refusing a handshake with Russian opponent Anna Smirnova.
Kharlan had won her opening match 15-7 and held out her sabre to acknowledge her opponent but refused to shake her hand.
This resulted in her being disqualified from the competition with a black card after Smirnova protested by sitting on the piste for 50 minutes.
A black card is the most serious penalty in fencing, and would have ruled Kharlan out of the team competition and result in a 60-day ban from competition.
A decision was later taken by the FIE Bureau to lift the penalty following an appeal by the Ukrainian Fending Federation.
A second resolution from the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament, also called on Governments, the IOC, and International Federations to condemn the initial disqualification.
“Parliament, among other things, called on the International Fencing Federation to: completely overturn Olha Harlan’s disqualification and formally apologise to her; bring to justice all persons involved in the decision to disqualify Olga Harlan; disqualify Russian athlete Anna Smirnova for life for a provocative act contrary to the Olympic spirit,” read a social media post from Beleniuk.
“We will always fight for our athletes, including at the Parliamentary level!”
Kharlan has been promised an “additional quota place” for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games by the IOC if she does not qualify.
The FIE has also eased its rules on the post-match handshake between athletes, no longer making it mandatory.
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Owen Lloyd is a reporter at insidethegames.biz, having joined the team in 2021. Lloyd has previously worked with Badminton England at the All England Open Badminton Championships, covered the 2019 General Election and hosted a radio show on local station Voice FM. He graduated from Solent University in 2021 with a 2:1 in sports journalism, where his final project examined diversity in rowing.
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For nearly 15 years now, insidethegames.biz has been at the forefront of reporting fearlessly on what happens in the Olympic Movement. As the first website not to be placed behind a paywall, we have made news about the International Olympic Committee, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Commonwealth Games and other major events more accessible than ever to everybody.
insidethegames.biz has established a global reputation for the excellence of its reporting and breadth of its coverage. For many of our readers from more than 200 countries and territories around the world the website is a vital part of their daily lives. The ping of our free daily email alert, sent every morning at 6.30am UK time 365 days a year, landing in their inbox, is as a familiar part of their day as their first cup of coffee.
Even during the worst times of the COVID-19 pandemic, insidethegames.biz maintained its high standard of reporting on all the news from around the globe on a daily basis. We were the first publication in the world to signal the threat that the Olympic Movement faced from the coronavirus and have provided unparalleled coverage of the pandemic since.
As the world begins to emerge from the COVID crisis, insidethegames.biz would like to invite you to help us on our journey by funding our independent journalism. Your vital support would mean we can continue to report so comprehensively on the Olympic Movement and the events that shape it. It would mean we can keep our website open for everyone. Last year, nearly 25 million people read insidethegames.biz, making us by far the biggest source of independent news on what is happening in world sport.
Every contribution, however big or small, will help maintain and improve our worldwide coverage in the year ahead. Our small and dedicated team were extremely busy last year covering the re-arranged Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, an unprecedented logistical challenge that stretched our tight resources to the limit.
The remainder of 2022 is not going to be any less busy, or less challenging. We had the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing, where we sent a team of four reporters, and coming up are the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the Summer World University and Asian Games in China, the World Games in Alabama and multiple World Championships. Plus, of course, there is the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Unlike many others, insidethegames.biz is available for everyone to read, regardless of what they can afford to pay. We do this because we believe that sport belongs to everybody, and everybody should be able to read information regardless of their financial situation. While others try to benefit financially from information, we are committed to sharing it with as many people as possible. The greater the number of people that can keep up to date with global events, and understand their impact, the more sport will be forced to be transparent.
Support insidethegames.biz for as little as £10 – it only takes a minute. If you can, please consider supporting us with a regular amount each month. Thank you.
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