High-jump champion Maria Lasitskene of Russia has written an open letter criticizing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for recommending a ban on Russian athletes at international events.
Shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine, the IOC recommended that international sports federations ban Russian and Belarusian athletes. Most international federations followed the recommendation, and as a result Lasitskene is likely to miss the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, next month.
The 29-year-old has been among the few Russians allowed to compete in international events despite the suspension of the country's athletics federation due to a long-running doping scandal.
Lasitskene, who is also a three-time world champion, argued in the letter, distributed on June 9, that IOC President Thomas Bach should lift the ban, saying that keeping Russians out of sports did not stop the war, “but on the contrary, it gave birth to a new one, around and inside the sports, which is impossible to contain.”
She lashed out at Bach, saying she has no doubt that he lacks the courage and dignity to lift the sanctions against Russian athletes because it would mean admitting that the IOC Charter was violated.
At the same time Lasitskene expressed sympathy for her Ukrainian competitors, who she said “are experiencing what no one human being should ever have to feel.”