Degtyaryov Reflects on Russias Exclusion: Sorrow and Regret Among IOC Members

The Minister of Sports of Russia, **Mikhail Degtyaryov**, commented on the international sports community’s stance regarding the exclusion of Russian athletes from competitions.

«We need to highlight the sports that have allowed our athletes to participate: ski mountaineering and everything related to skating, including figure skating. This is a significant breakthrough, albeit in a limited format for now. We are engaged in behind-the-scenes negotiations and observe regret, even sorrow, from many leaders, members of the IOC, and heads of national Olympic committees. Some have spoken about this publicly. I just returned from Serbia, and the Hungarians are also on our side, along with those advocating for fairness.

However, this issue is not straightforward. I have publicly stated that the Italian Olympic Committee is on our side because our interests align. They are hosting the Olympic Games, and currently, they will not have key athletes in essential sports. Of course, this diminishes interest, ticket sales, and other aspects. A recent example is Norwegian skiing, which has suffered financial losses. Who wants to watch events without our athletes? Therefore, we are addressing this systematically.

The second issue concerns how we view the armed conflict and negotiations. Naturally, we are observing. Our position is clear: if we consider the consequences of armed conflict, then we should exclude all athletes from countries experiencing warfare from the Olympics and global sports. I could list places where violence is present: Israel, Palestine, and recently, India and Pakistan, which can flare up at any moment. In Africa, there are dozens of conflicts. This would ultimately devastate global sports,» Degtyaryov’s comments were reported by Match TV.