From: Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 896)
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
Psalm 146:8-9
Even though I don’t follow sports news too closely, it’s inevitable during the Olympics.
During 2022-2023, there was a massive campaign demanding to ban Russian athletes from participating in the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee did suspend Russia from the competition, yet 15 individual athletes from Russia were allowed to participate under the neutral flag. However, at least 10 out of 15 have links to Russia’s military or security services and have supported Russia’s invasion and occupation of parts of Ukraine: performed in the temporarily occupied Crimea after 2014, participated in propaganda events or pro-war actions on social media. Will their “neutral flag” change their allegiance? Or will it make Ukrainians (or any other person) feel better as if pretending they don’t know who they are standing next to? Or perhaps the “neutral flag” helps further the Olympic Movement’s goal of building a peaceful and better world?
I didn’t care much about this decision of the Olympic Committee. I was happy that Ukrainian athletes could participate and do their best. I was ready to pretend Russia was invisible in the Olympics 2024. However, today, I learned that the organizers (the International Canoe Federation, to be exact) forced Ukrainian canoeist Anastasia Rybachok to cover the “I am Ukrainian” sign on her boat as it was considered propaganda. The International Olympic Committee prohibits any war-related inscriptions or statements such as “stop the war.” It may even disqualify athletes for those (what happened to “building a peaceful and better world”?). Yet now it turns out that even stating that you are Ukrainian may be offensive to some.
Tomorrow, August 8, Anastasia will participate in the single sculls. I hope she does her best and brings another medal to Ukraine. Her standing on a pedestal with a Ukrainian flag and the Ukrainian anthem would be legitimate then, no matter how upsetting and borderline propaganda it may look to the “wellwishers.”
Voice of Ukraine 