Biden and the International Olympic Committee are being too soft on Russian war crimes

Russian war crimes are not dissuading President Biden and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from allowing Russian athletes to participate in the 2024 Olympics. They say these individuals may compete under the flag of a neutral country. This position is indefensible with Russia’s war on Ukraine raging.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is right — the United States and the IOC should reverse their stands. “War is hell” said a famed American general. Innocent civilians, the elderly, along with women and children, die in gut-wrenching numbers. Tragic but unavoidable “collateral damage,” say military experts. The moral choices in war are horrendous. But banning Russian athletes under any flag is one of the easiest.

The Summer Olympics in 1916 were cancelled due to World War I. The IOC likewise cancelled the 1940 and 1944 games due to World War II. Last year, Zelensky said World War III “may have already started.”

NATO countries, led by the United States, are openly supplying the weaponry sustaining Ukraine’s far smaller army. The U.S. is the lead financier keeping Zelensky’s economy somewhat afloat. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government is publicly saying the West is using Ukraine as its spear in a proxy war. World War III rhetoric naturally unnerved Zelensky’s Western allies. He now says Ukraine will never allow World War III to start. The world prays he succeeds. 

Biden and the IOC would agree that holding the 2024 Paris Olympics would be morally indefensible during a world war. Soldiers at least accept the risk of life and limb. Noncombatants are trapped between the warriors. Putin’s war is being fought solely in Ukraine’s sovereign territory. A United Nation’s Commission report has officially documented war crimes. There have been tens of thousands of civilian deaths, some claim hundreds of thousands.   

The Olympic ideal posits an athletic contest above politics. The IOC sees the games as a vehicle for promoting peace among nations. It refused to cancel the 1936 Berlin games, even after the Nazis had enacted laws legalizing their race war against Jews and others the regime considered either insufficiently white or physically perfect. Even in this horrid circumstance, the IOC held to its vision of an “Olympic truce.”

President Franklin Roosevelt was silent on the matter and America’s athletes went. Several Jewish runners were prevented from running. Jessie Owens famously won four gold medals. After returning home to a hero’s welcome, he soon faced the same racial discrimination as he had before the Olympics. Before the next Olympics, Germany started World War II.  So much for promoting peace.

War crimes cannot be swept under the Olympic rug. The U.S. is officially accusing Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine. IOC rules have allowed athletes from banned nations to qualify for participation with another country. Should the athlete win the gold medal, the flag and anthem from this new country will be featured at the award ceremony.

The Ukraine government has not yet formally said it would boycott the Olympics if its president’s demand were denied. But the odious stench from war crimes would still be fresh in the Paris summer breeze, even should the war end tomorrow.  

With all due respect to Biden and the IOC, we cannot compete if Ukraine boycotts. The Olympics would be an international farce. French President Emmanuel Macron surely knows Paris streets would swell with protestors.

The IOC and President Biden believe that singling out innocent Russian athletes is unfair. These athletes aren’t responsible for Putin’s war crimes, they insist. A vote of Olympians likely would support allowing the Russian athletes to compete.

It is a noble sentiment for sure. Olympic hopefuls have spent years pursuing their gold medal dreams. There will be a 2028 games, but 2024 will be many athletes’ only shot.

Thus, banning Russian athletes will kill many dreams forever. Some American military experts expect the war to go on for at least three more years. Banning Russian athletes will not change this. Given the continuing escalation in weaponry, this is a grim vision for civilians trapped between the warring sides. Against this draconian backdrop, banning Russian athletes may seem pointless. But it is the only option open to the West short of cancelling the games. 

It is past time for America and the West to publicly back Zelensky’s call to ban Russia’s athletes from the games. The West is at war with Russia, even if it isn’t World War III. 

The civilian dead in Ukraine rightfully would expect no less. Their families too. Those Russian athletes should be thankful Putin hasn’t conscripted them. No one can outrun bullets, bombs, drones and missiles. Those of us living thousands of miles from the battlefield must not be so unfeeling. We repeat: The moral choices in war time are horrendous, but banning Russian athletes is among the easiest.

Paul Goldman is a Richmond attorney and former chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia. Mark J. Rozell is dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.