Carsten Warholm (26 years old), unlike the chairman of the athletes’ committee Astrid Ornholdt Jacobsen, is quite clear about the Russia issue: he will not open up to Russian athletes now.
This is what the athletics star told VG during a digital press conference ahead of his star-studded event in Ulsteinvik:
– I think how Russia uses sports as propaganda, so I think that probably shouldn’t be the case. With my values, it’s clear what to do, says Warholm.
– What must be completed?
– You must keep the situation as it is now, he replies.
Warholm is the reigning Olympic champion in the 400m hurdles. single mode Stunning world record when he won Olympic gold in tokyo.
In recent months, the IOC has consulted with groups of athletes around the world about how they feel about Russia and Belarus getting involved in sports again. As a result of the Russian war in Ukraine, the countries have been banned from participating in a number of international sports.
In Norwegian sport, the controversy has been fierce. Especially after Astrid Ornholdt Jacobsen, president of the Norwegian Athletes Committee – and at the same time the representative of athletes to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), opened a discussion on the topic of Russia / Belarus.
I started with That past Thursday, NRK posted a case in which they had sources who provided information that Jacobsen “called for a return to Russia” in a so-called “exploratory meeting” with the International Olympic Committee.
The next Olympics will be held in Paris next summer, i.e. in 2024. On Sunday, Jacobsen shared a note that will show what she said at the meeting with the International Olympic Committee that started the class, and the former cross-country skier claimed that she only open for discussion.
Warholm says of the controversy over athletes in Norway:
– I think everyone in Norwegian sports shares the view that war is very damning. I think the discussion may have come off a slightly crooked jump edge. It was like Astrid Oren holding Jacobsen against the rest. What is happening is a tragedy for humanity. It’s hard to talk about sports. I think the discussion is a bit misunderstood. Some try to mix it up with the way you look at the war, the nuances of Warholm.
Sports President Beret Kgol was also clear on the matter. The Norwegian Sports Confederation announced this on Friday Russia and Belarus do not want to return to international competition.
Rower Kjetil Borch became involved in the case. He won the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. He He took a merciless confrontation with Jacobsen Ahead of a meeting between the Sports Committee and senior Norwegian athletes on Tuesday.
– Because of the way this was handled, my confidence in the sports committee leader was greatly weakened. I have to be honest, Porsche told VG.
The high jumper was Yaroslava Mahotsikh (personal record 2.06 metres) from Ukraine Indoor world champion last year. She won the Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo in 2021 and the silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene last July and Doha in 2019.
She will take part in the Karsten Warholm Conference in Olstenvik on Thursday. On Wednesday, she answered questions from the Norwegian media.
– I cannot now answer whether I will participate in the Paris Olympics (2024). It’s terrible for us athletes, but we love competition and we want to do it to show that Ukraine still exists, says Yaroslava Mahotsikh.
She says that IAAF President Sebastian Coe is against Russia and Belarus participating in the sport, but expresses great surprise that IOC President Thomas Bach is open to the contrary.
– I do not understand that. Russian athletes support the Russian army, which is destroying our infrastructure. She says our sports arenas are destroyed.
She says her hometown of Dnipro was subjected to a fierce Russian bombing attack. An apartment building near her family home was completely destroyed, according to Mahotsikh, parts of the demolished nine-storey house ended up in the garden of the house where she lived until Russia started the war a year ago.
Now she lives in Belgium with the Ukrainian national athletics team. Her father lives in Dnipro.
– The dead bodies had to be removed from our garden. It was terrible. A number of people have lost their children and families. She says, we have lost the head of our sports school.
Russian tennis star Andrei Rublev had a clear message to his authorities after Russia invaded Ukraine almost a year ago:
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