(ATR) Alexander Zhukov, head of the Russian Olympic Committee, says barring Russian athletes from PyeongChang risks a further rupture with the greater Olympic movement.
Zhukov’s comments came at a panel session on "Sports A Space of Confidence" during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. He said that "boycotts and suspensions will lead to nowhere" but conceded "the IOC has been preventing such attempts," according to news agency TASS.
Currently two IOC commissions are reviewing evidence from the first and second McLaren reports to determine a course of action for Russian athletes ahead of PyeongChang 2018. After the first McLaren report the IOC left punishment of athletes implicated in a state sponsored doping scandal up to the individual federations. As a result more than one-third of Russian athletes that qualified for Rio were barred from competing.
"If we assume that Team Russia does not participate…the Games will lack the entertainment value," Zhukov said. "As members of various organizations, we have been striving to ensure the unity of the Olympic movement and its values for we believe it is a crime to try to turn sports into political weapons."
Expect Strong Russian Hockey Team
Zhukov also says if Russia is allowed to participate in PyeongChang its ice hockey team will be a force.
In April the National Hockey League announced it would not allow the participation of its players at the 2018 Winter Olympics. The league said that it could not reach an agreement with the IOC and International Ice Hockey Federation about which body would cover travel costs. The NHL also said that a majority of its owners were against disrupting the NHL season and releasing players.
Still, the IIHF and IOC remain optimistic that a deal could still be had with the NHL.
Zhukov told Russian news agency TASS that while it is undeniable the best Russian hockey players were in the NHL, their absence would not prevent the country from fielding a team capable of winning gold in PyeongChang.
"Thanks to the strong championship of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), our situation is a bit different," Zhukov said. "In any case, we’ll send a strong team to South Korea but it would be nice if the tournament comes as a full-fledged event with the participation of NHL players."
Russia’s KHL is regarded as the world’s second best hockey team. Its president Dmitry Chernyshenko told Around the Rings after the NHL’s decision the league is looking to sign free agents hoping to play in PyeongChang.
Written by Aaron Bauer
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