There is no talk of any Olympic boycott – not yet anyway – and Minister for Sport Thomas Byrne is perfectly clear on that. The whispering around one, however, isn’t going away.
Last Friday Byrne joined sports ministers from across the world at a virtual summit, addressed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to discuss the International Olympic Committee (IOC) proposal to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to return in time for next year’s Paris Games. “To be clear, Ireland does not agree with this,” Byrne stated afterwards.
Russia and Belarus have been suspended by the IOC since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last February. Last month the IOC announced it was exploring a pathway to allow competitors from Russia and Belarus to compete in Paris as neutrals. Several countries have already spoken out against any such move, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo among those to oppose it, while others including the US and Britain are awaiting further clarification from the IOC.
Last month the Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI) said it was engaging with all relevant stakeholders on the move to reinstate athletes from Russia and Belarus ahead of Paris, although it has not commented further.
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Byrne, speaking at the Sport Ireland announcement of €16 million in core funding for the 58 national governing bodies of Irish sport, indicated the move was for now in the hands of the IOC.
“There’s no mention of boycott, that’s to be clear,” he said. “We had a meeting from our side with ministers last week, and we’re working on a joint statement on that. I’ve never actually said it [boycott], and we’re not in the space of calling it a boycott.
“We want sport to be there for everybody, there is at some point in the future, if Russia stops doing what they’re doing, and Belarus stops supporting them, there will be a place for Russia and Belarus athletes.
“But our ask of governing bodies, and people who own sporting events, and without interfering with them, because at the end of the day, we’re not in favour of that, but asking them not to facilitate the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes.”
The Olympic Council of Asia has already offered to accept athletes from Russia and Belarus into their Paris Olympic qualifying events. Last week, IOC president Thomas Bach said any boycott would violate the Olympic Charter and that its inclusion of Russian and Belarusians is based on a UN resolution against discrimination within the Olympic movement.
On that prospect of Russia and Belarus returning during the ongoing war in Ukraine, Byrne added: “Look, I’ve a strong view on that, my last job as Europe minister, I got to know a lot of people who were personally and directly affected, and there’s a lot of people in this country directly affected, who are refugees here, and see the direct results.
“We shouldn’t be facilitating that, and the Government certainly won’t be facilitating that. At the end of the day national governing bodies, and international governing bodies, have to make their own decisions, and with the Olympics,the French authorities as well.
“They [the IOC] have to do what they have to do, and we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do, and to make our position clear. It is very difficult for the athletes, and for governing bodies to try to navigate these global issues. It’s wrong, but unfortunately that is the case.”
On the matter of Katie Taylor still getting to fight in Croke Park later this year, Byrne indicated the Government was still open to providing some funding if the timing was right.Promoter Eddie Hearn has indicated the May 20th title fight between Taylor and Amanda Serrano is poised for the 3Arena, but that Croke Park might still work at another date.
“If they came to us with another proposal of course we would look at it out of respect to Katie Taylor,” Byrne said. “We would love Katie Taylor to be fighting in Croke Park. But, again, with all these proposals, there is a high threshold to cross.
“Any funding we give to major events – and we do give funding to major events – there is a cost-benefit analysis to be done in terms of possible benefits to the tourism economy and wider participation to the community.
“What we have said in public is what we said to Katie’s manager – and I never met Eddie Hearn – is that May 20th, because the rugby Heineken Cup [final] was on in Dublin, it seemed to us straight off that that would be hard to justify from a tourism point of view and that if you said November – and I’m not saying November – it is obviously easier to make in terms of a tourism case. Now that doesn’t commit us to a certain date but just to illustrate.”
