Wimbledon Bans Players From Russia and Belarus

[anonymoose]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/wimbled...ev-11650466191

Strongly disagree.

[Celticguy]

havnt watched Wimbledon in decades. could not care less if I tried.

[anonymoose]

havnt watched Wimbledon in decades. could not care less if I tried.

Not the point. It's about individual athletes being banned from a sporting event only because of the country where they happen to be citizens.
They could actually be opposed to the war but can't express that for fear of being poisoned.

[Phantasmal]

There is going to be a lot more of this in every sport.

[Cypress]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/wimbled...ev-11650466191

Strongly disagree.

There cannot be any engagement with Russia while Putin is committing the worst war crimes in Europe since WW2

[anonymoose]

There cannot be any engagement with Russia while Putin is committing the worst war crimes in Europe since WW2

I just don't think letting athletes compete is engaging Russia. Plus it has zero effect on Putin.

[anonymoose]

Although if I were an elite athlete making $millions I'd consider asylum. Hell I'd consider asylum anyway.

[Phantasmal]

Summer Olympic sports
In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, athletics' governing body has now banned "all athletes, support personnel and officials from Russia and Belarus" from participation in "all World Athletics Series events for the foreseeable future, with immediate effect".Mar 18, 2022

https://www.bbc.co.uk › sport




Ukraine crisis: Which sports have banned Russian athletes? - BBC

[Phantasmal]

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/01/sport...ntl/index.html

[Cypress]

I just don't think letting athletes compete is engaging Russia. Plus it has zero effect on Putin.

You don't understand. State supported athletics and sports is very much part and parcel of the Russian identity an and national self perception. Russian tennis, hockey,
and gymnastics are very much ambassadors for Russia and Kremlin prestige

[cawacko]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/wimbled...ev-11650466191

Strongly disagree.

I strongly agree with your strong disagreement. These are individual athletes who have nothing to do with their government, and may strongly disagree with their government. Is Putin going to say "well geez, I'll stop the war now because of this?" No. If anything he'll probably use it to rally the country together. But even that is neither here nor there. What about the precedent going forward of how athletes are treated based on what their government is doing? They are opening a whole can of worms here. This is a terrible decision.

[Celticguy]

Not the point. It's about individual athletes being banned from a sporting event only because of the country where they happen to be citizens.
They could actually be opposed to the war but can't express that for fear of being poisoned.

the point was not lost on me.
its as silly as the US not participating in the Moscow Olympics (but no problem with Peking twice).

If russian men are still dominate then banning them will only hurt attendance.

[anonymoose]

I strongly agree with your strong disagreement. These are individual athletes who have nothing to do with their government, and may strongly disagree with their government. Is Putin going to say "well geez, I'll stop the war now because of this?" No. If anything he'll probably use it to rally the country together. But even that is neither here nor there. What about the precedent going forward of how athletes are treated based on what their government is doing? They are opening a whole can of worms here. This is a terrible decision.

You don't understand. State supported athletics and sports is very much part and parcel of the Russian identity an and national self perception. Russian tennis, hockey,
and gymnastics are very much ambassadors for Russia and Kremlin prestige

Virtually all these athletes are fluent in English , see the news reports about what is actually happening and probably spend very little time in Russia anymore. I wonder what their take on the "special military operation" is? And if they're strongly against it do they consider defecting?

[cawacko]

Virtually all these athletes are fluent in English , see the news reports about what is actually happening and probably spend very little time in Russia anymore. I wonder what their take on the "special military operation" is? And if they're strongly against it do they consider defecting?

To me it's almost irrelevant. These athletes may be from a country but this isn't the Olympics, they aren't playing on behalf of their country. I don't follow Tennis that closely so I don't know the individual back stories of each player but this is a bad precedent what they are doing imo. And just trying to focus on Putin is missing the big picture.

[Hawkeye10]

As the West dies we are all in for collective punishment.

We used to be better.