Thread by @BadBalticTakes

Sport is heavily exploited for Russian propaganda, even when its athletes are supposedly ‘neutral’.

IOC chief Thomas Bach has a track record of bad takes in support of Russia at the Olympics - while it attempts to annihilate a participating nation.

Let’s dive in. 🧵

Bach began his career as a fencer. He won Olympic gold as part of West Germany’s team in 1976.

However, he’d soon be immersed in a political battle, unsuccessfully leading opposition to the boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

That battle defined Bach's politics.

Over the years since, he's frequently described how hurt he felt by the boycott. He also claims the boycott achieved nothing. So he especially refers back to it when defending the IOC for its close cooperation with authoritarian regimes.

After that, Bach stepped into the world of business and also got more involved with sport governance as cofounder of the IOC’s Athletes Commission.

Business and sport didn't overlap as much in those days, but that was about to change - with Bach playing a key supporting role.

Some of this history is covered here by @P_Kallioniemi (of Vatnik Soup fame) as part of the context for how Bach assumed such a tight grip on the IOC, which he is using to favour Russia’s interests.
bylinetimes.com/2023/06/08/you…

“After he got involved with the IOC, the Olympic Games became much more commercial – something Bach might have planned long before while he was still working for Horst Dassler, the father of sport sponsorship. …Bach has consolidated control & minimized external accountability.”

Bach became an IOC member in 1991 & long coveted the top job. He ran to be IOC Chief in 2013 - and faced considerable criticism for his conflicts of interest at the heart of this commercially-driven Olympic machine he had helped build up.

One candidate said Bach used his IOC contacts to benefit his business interests. German TV detailed how Bach paid inducements & helped get his preferred candidates into key roles within sport federations - & allegations he cheated as a fencer using a wet glove to fool sensors.

The election coincided with Russia heavily investing in sporting success for propaganda - with its upcoming Olympics and, as would emerge, its giant state doping programme.

It's been widely speculated that Russia had a key role backing Bach’s winning bid. theguardian.com/sport/2016/jul…

Bach said he'd protect the Olympic ethos by prioritising human rights, tackling corruption & reversing gigantism.

That’s in sharp contrast to his actual impact.

As a critic noted, Bach is “always standing next to a broken window but no one has ever seen him throw the stone.”

Bach was full of praise for Russia’s Sochi Games - ignoring immense human rights issues & runaway corruption-fueled costs.

He repeatedly praised and thanked Putin publicly for his “great commitment” to the Games and their “extraordinary success”.

Those Games would also be the second of three times that the Olympic Truce, as enshrined in UN resolutions, was broken when Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014 while still hosting the Paralympics.

All three violations of the Olympic Truce would be committed by Putin's Russia.

The story of Sochi gets worse.

When allegations of Russian doping emerged, Bach first seemed to take a hard line. But as it became clear Russia had a vast state-sponsored doping programme, Bach went soft.

Despite fury, Bach’s IOC wouldn't sanction Russia at the Rio Games.

The IOC's position became untenable only when an independent report from the World Anti-Doping Agency recommended banning Russian athletes. But the IOC rejected that & passed the buck just 2 weeks before the Rio Games to sport federations to decide on individual participation.

The IOC's position was particularly inexplicable as one country, Kuwait, had been suspended from Rio due to political interference in its sporting body. That interference undermined its own country’s sport. Russia's state interference undermined the entire Games for everyone.

The following year, another independent report for the IOC made it clear that Russia’s participation under these circumstances was unacceptable. But Bach allowed Russian athletes to continue competing as 'neutrals', just not under Russia's flag.

Since then, Russia has continued to heavily exploit the propaganda opportunity from its competing athletes - undeterred by their 'neutral' status - making a mockery of the sanction. Even without winning, participation enables Russia's state to claim international acceptability.

At every stage of the doping scandal, Bach ensured the IOC implemented the least possible sanctions against Russia, only toughening its stance as it was dragged along by outside pressure.

This is a pattern that would repeat for Russia's 3rd violation of the Olympic Truce.

I’m approaching the tweet thread limit, so, this is to be continued…

Amidst the global outrage of Russia launching its full scale war on Ukraine, the IOC suspended Russian & Belarusian athletes.

However, Bach only waited for the one year anniversary of Russia’s war to signal a reversal of that, arguing politics should be separate from sport.

It's an argument Bach uses a lot - but the Olympics is obviously heavily infused with politics, hence why Russia’s state invested so much in cheating.

Bach’s 'anti-politics' approach is actually very similar to Putin's. What he's really saying is 'leave the politics to us'.

Note, for example, that Bach objects to this iconic Olympic moment.

When World Athletics President Seb Coe gave them an award, Bach publicly rebuked Coe.

Coe had to point out it wasn't against the rules to respectfully make protest gestures.
insidethegames.biz/articles/11017…

Coe, an old friend & supporter of Bach, also reflects the wide opposition to the IOC's handling of Russia among athletes.

On behalf of World Athletics, he remains unequivocal about why athletes from Russia and Belarus should not currently take part.
worldathletics.org/news/press-rel…

Athletes around the world are speaking out.

“The fact that Bach is friends with a mass murderer …may be his personal decision, but he and the IOC are driving themselves into ruin with this attitude and are dragging us athletes all along.”
athleticsillustrated.com/thomas-bachs-o…

Yet Bach ignores that - & cynically tries to frame the debate as athletes backing him vs (democratic) governments mixing politics with sport.

When 35 sport ministers from 4 continents asked the IOC to just clarify how neutrality would be meaningful, he called them deplorable.

Bach also now resorts to whatboutism.

He frequently cites a fact there are 70 wars and armed conflict in the world as justification that Russia shouldn't be singled out too harshly.

There’s a few glaring problems with that argument though…

Olympic analyst @JensWeinreich looked at the data that the IOC was using. Of course, there is no other war of national annihilation taking place, which is why no country on that list is asking for Olympic sanctions.

One Olympic-participating nation is waging a war of aggression with clear intent to annihilate another, while changing borders by force. This hasn't happened since WW2 - when the Games were canceled - after first used by the aggressor for propaganda.

Unsurprisingly, Bach has the backing of autocrats.

Putin & Xi both praised Bach’s position, releasing a joint nauseating statement about how the IOC was upholding Olympic values and that sport should be about promoting peace, etc.

insidethegames.biz/articles/11350…

Bach’s IOC signaled its reversal while the aggression was worsening. That included targeting of civilian homes and infrastructure, horrendous war crimes in occupied territories, including mass deportations ...as well as the systematic destruction of sporting facilities.

Among the many victims of Russia's war are hundreds of killed Ukrainian athletes & coaches. Many more are wounded, captured, & missing. Ukrainian sports facilities have been devastated.

Remember, the IOC's first responsibility is the safety of athletes.

Meanwhile, Bach wants the aggressor to return to its pre-full scale war status quo and benefit from 'neutral' participation.

At the last Olympics, more than half of medals won by Russian athletes were won by athletes connected to the Russian military.

The IOC has presented no workable solution to separate sport from Russia's aggression at the Olympics, such as ensuring that 'neutral' athletes can actually be neutral in any credible sense. The IOC declaring that sports and politics are separate does not make it so.

Even trying to weed out athletes who most blatantly support the war & currently serve in the military still ignores how the team has been developed by and used for the aggressor’s military.

“The military uniform is literally the second jersey of the Russian Olympic team.”

Russia has made a mockery of the Olympic Games, its values, & its existing sanctions. It's undermined the Olympics, just as it has with other international institutions. That includes by undermining the existing status quo of neutral status for Russian athletes.

The Olympic Games are only possible due to international law. It's a peaceful collaboration between international states that respect each other's existence within a rules-based order. The IOC should stick up for that too, like many athletes do passionately.

It's not too late for the Olympics to do the right thing. Athletes & sporting organisations still have a lot of power and are raising their voices in support of Ukraine and true Olympic values. And, as consumers, we have the power to pressure sponsors: paris2024.org/en/partners/

It is, ironically, much to do with Thomas Bach that the IOC is so keen to listen to sponsors.

There is already a path for athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate at the Olympics - and it is entirely within the power of those countries. They can end their war.

Let’s be clear. The white flag of Russia belongs first on the battlefield.

#boycottrussiansport