I O C Recommends Banning All Russian Athketes

[Stickybottle]

And Belarusian ones too :

https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-invasion-ioc-recommends-russian-and-belarusian-athletes-should-be-banned-from-all-international-competitions-12554151

As ever the only morons dragging their feet over such sanctions are FIFA :

https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2022/feb/27/anger-as-fifa-decide-russia-can-continue-bid-to-qualify-for-world-cup

The IOC are doing the right thing

[royfromaus]

FIFA has given them the boot

[Hopkirk]

At this rate the Qatar World Cup will have only one participant.

[Stickybottle]

As I posted the OP the bbc claim that FIFA are having a change of heart

[wolf63]

A friend in Bath has had a Russian Blue turn up at her house a few times lately. He wanders miles to get there from his own home. Should she be worried?
☺

[ToraToraTora]

Well they are already banned from competing under their own flag mostly so they have to compete privately and even then they are drugged up to the eyeballs.

[ToraToraTora]

"A friend in Bath has had a Russian Blue turn up at her house" - is that their boat race team?

[Stickybottle]

Still dithering
This should have been a no brainer days ago :

Football's world governing body
FIFA is in advanced talks over the suspension of the Russian national side from international
competition.
Officials are working with the sport's European body UEFA ahead of an expected decision
later on Monday.
If a suspension is enforced, it would mean Russia would be unable to play their World Cup
play-off fixture against Poland in March.

[ichkeria]

Russia will be unable to play Poland, Sweden or Czechia anyway.
Those countries have led the way by saying they don’t play them no matter what they are called.
So FIFA would have a big problem there: they’d either have to expel Russia or two of the other three

[-SharonA-]

What about tennis players like Rublev?? Are they exempt??

[ichkeria]

Rublev ought to be exempt: he has come out very publicly against the war. After a match the other day we went up to a TV camera with a pen and scribbled an anti-war slogan on the lends

[ichkeria]

"he" not "we"

[ToraToraTora]

SB, FIFA are as bent as a butchers hook, how else could Qatar possibly be holding the world cup?

[ichkeria]

UEFA has acted:
They have cancelled their sponsorship with Gazprom and expelled all Russian teams from UEFA competitions