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This week it became known about mass refusals to work as volunteers at the 2024 Olympics for Russian citizens — and regardless of their place of residence. Sports correspondent — about how discrimination on the part of the organizers of the Paris Games on the basis of nationality reached a new unheard of level.
Letter and reaction
The letter of refusal of accreditation for the Olympic Games came as a shock to volunteers from Russia who planned to work in Paris. Back in March, the director of the 2024 Olympics volunteer program, Alexandre Morenon-Conde, stated that participation in it was open to citizens of any country without any exceptions. Therefore, Russians, without any fears, submitted applications, received approval for them, and many managed to buy airline tickets to France, which are expensive in today’s times, and book themselves even more expensive housing.
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But at the end of April, an unpleasant surprise awaited them — a letter was received from the organizing committee refusing their services (a copy of it is published below). It says that the authorities made the corresponding decision after a “background check.” Specific reasons are not indicated, but what is noteworthy is that such a letter also came to those who, for example, have a Russian passport but live in France.
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“After we submitted applications, positions were distributed from October to December last year, we received invitations to the Games — both Olympic and Paralympic,” says one of the volunteers who planned to work in Paris. “Motivational events with slogans have already begun : “We are a team!”, “We are looking forward to it!”… We received Schengen visas. Training, training began, even a schedule of shifts in positions arrived.
But on April 29 we received a message. from the organizing committee of the Games that we did not pass the background checks, and our journey as volunteers ends here. Personal accounts on the site were blocked. However, interestingly, yesterday some received invitations to work at the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games — even those with blocked ones. personal accounts.
We began to find out who exactly refused to allow us to participate. We found out that this is the French Ministry of Internal Affairs. Back in March, the head of this department said in the media that about 800 applications for Olympic accreditation had already been refused due to “bad intentions.” But what kind of “bad intentions” can we talk about in our case? We were going to work at the Olympics, not discuss politics. It makes no difference to us where the Games are held — in France, Qatar or somewhere else. We just love this thing — volunteering. We don’t understand why we were refused without explanation, although we have already gone through more than one Olympics. It seems that they simply saw the nationality — but in fact there were no checks as such.
We would like to convey to the French Minister of Internal Affairs the information that volunteers from Russia do not wish nasty things on anyone. They just want to come and work normally. We understand perfectly well that they are playing it safe and are afraid of some threats. But we have no bad intentions, we are not going to spoil their holiday in any way. I know that people with Russian citizenship, who have lived in France for many years, but were also refused, want to try to contact the minister directly and write a collective letter. Yesterday the entire French press exploded on this topic, I hope that this information has already reached him. We believe that we must defend our rights.»
Is the IOC even aware of the consequences?
What can we say here… As you know, Russian athletes are allowed to participate in the Paris Olympics in a neutral status — subject to a number of criteria and conditions. But as for volunteers, people in this status at the Olympic Games are by definition neutral. They don't have flags on their uniforms. When you approach a volunteer to ask for help on some issue, you don’t know what country he is from. And volunteers in their work are guided only by good intentions.
Anyone who knows any volunteer personally will confirm: these are holy people — they are ready to live in unknown conditions, save on bread and water, just to carry out their volunteer mission. And, of course, not receive a penny for it — or in this case, not a eurocent. It is evidence of their purity that even in such a history that seems to clearly indicate their discrimination, they are ready to understand those who lit the “red light” for them on the path to the Olympic dream, they talk about “reinsurance” and believe that the French Minister of the Interior just not aware of their true motives.
But, unfortunately, we have to admit – once again quoting Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot – that of all the possible versions of something, the most probable is the real one. It is the infringement based on nationality that explains everything that is happening around the possible Russian presence at the Olympics in Paris. The admission process by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was organized in such a way that even on the sporting principle, only a few athletes from Russia could qualify for the Games — not to mention the so-called “neutrality criteria”, which are shameless in their discrimination. For several months now, applications for Olympic accreditation of Russian journalists have been in limbo: judging by the irregular information received from the organizing committee, it is “under consideration.” There are examples of refusals to Russian citizens who worked at many Games in the Olympic information service — in Paris they did not want to see them…
And now here is a refusal to Russian volunteers — which is completely unheard of. “One can only express regret,” Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters about this. “Because among the fans, among the guests of the Olympics there will be a lot of Russian-speaking people. And there will be a lot of Russian people (who) live in other countries and will come to France. In this case, the organizers are simply a little, perhaps skimping on hospitality, depriving these people of the help of those volunteers who could best assist them in order to make their stay in the French capital more pleasant.»
It is noteworthy that bias based on nationality in the light of the scandal with Russian volunteers is being talked about not only in Russia, but even in America. “The sudden decision to throw overboard the Olympics already recruited volunteers from Russia and Belarus is not only unusual, but also makes us think about the initial approval process for their candidacies,” stated Jules Boykoff, a professor at the Pacific University in Oregon (USA), a former Olympic participant himself, who quotes the publication Inside The Games: “Has any new information surfaced about them? Or has discrimination raised its ugly head?”
And what does the organizing committee of the Games actually say about this? Nothing. Several days have passed since the scandal surrounding the denial of accreditation to Russian volunteers began to flare up, but on his part there is silence in the public space. The IOC does not comment on the situation either; more precisely, it forwards the request to the organizing committee of the Paris Olympics, which remains unanswered. In Lausanne they pretend that they have nothing to do with this scandal and demonstratively distance themselves from it. But the reality is that it was the IOC that launched all the bacchanalia that is happening in relation to Russia in the Olympic movement. And it is completely logical, although extremely sad, that our most harmless participants were also under attack.
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