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Sensitive-Pirate-461 t1_jeeu8u1 wrote

I doubt anyone will be facing them, the Russians could well be the only athletes there.

−5

AnalystOk5065 t1_jeezkbm wrote

Are the countries even sending athletes in the middle of this chaos?

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DanskNils t1_jef28g7 wrote

Not gonna lie..! That would be one hell of a Smackdown!! Especially in Wrestling or any contact Sport! Would love to see Ukrainians dish it out!

−8

BIH-Marathoner t1_jef33rv wrote

Replying to AnalystOk5065 (#2,533,329)

In track and field, there are some Ukranian athletes competing. They are all training in different countries away from the war. They are sponsored and need to put food on the table, so they don't have much choice but to keep going.

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wired1984 t1_jef9uej wrote

Only sport you can fight them in should be mortal kombat

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Sushi4lucas t1_jefcjb7 wrote

Not sure this title is very fair. I think Ukraine is trying to boycott the Olympics and they are hoping other countries will follow.

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weissmanhyperion t1_jeff1jj wrote

Replying to Sushi4lucas (#2,537,538)

From the article "Government minister Oleh Nemchinov said Thursday that a decision had been taken only to enter events with no Russians involved, according to public broadcaster Suspilne."

They're actively not entering events with Russian presence, title's worded with bias but definitely accurate.

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hi_imovedagain t1_jefhlgj wrote

Besides the moral element, can you imagine that an athlete from Ukraine has to compete with russian athletes who can train at home, at non-bombed facilities, with no interruptions because of air siren alarm and no constant fear of their families being killed with a random missile? Does this look like fair conditions?

−3

Ulpian02 t1_jefjsw0 wrote

The fights would be personally damaging to some participants

1

vtTownie t1_jeflx59 wrote

Replying to BIH-Marathoner (#2,534,550)

In most cases professional athletes are training at training centers across the world rather than their home anyways so I’m not sure it’s that different than it was before the war. Olympic level semi-pro and amateur probably in a different position though

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socratyes t1_jefnurc wrote

Replying to hi_imovedagain (#2,539,092)

To be fair you can say this about any country at war when in comes to training their athletes. Sports is meant to transcend politics. North Korea vs South Korea, armenia vs azerbaijan, Isreal vs most middle east countries. Plus if we starting banning countries for how they have treated others in wars then the uk can't compete against anyone lol.

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Alex_Hauff t1_jefq3m5 wrote

shouldn’t Olympic sports and politics not mix?

Is not the first or last tome that country that are in open conflict go at it during a sporting event.

Wouldn’t the contrary be considered discrimination?

If Palestine wouldn’t face off Israel?

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hi_imovedagain t1_jefq9h7 wrote

Replying to socratyes (#2,541,014)

Well, does South Korea has completely destroyed facilities? I’m not implying on the moral aspect, I’m saying about the technical unfairness when you start the war but your athletes are just fine and earning money and fame while people you bomb, Ukrainian athletes have to do lots of extra steps (if one can put it like that), mostly ending in training abroad apart from the family. It is probably hard to imagine from outside but having most of sports facilities shelled and destroyed doesn’t really help enjoying sports or transcending politics. Then, imagine if russian athlete wins and has to stand near Ukrainian one, how the latter would react?

−17

el-art-seam t1_jefrjr8 wrote

Something tells me the Ukrainian boxers and other martial artists would be okay facing a Russian opponent.

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slater_san t1_jeg5x7d wrote

Replying to Ulpian02 (#2,539,783)

If it was something like wrestling/boxing I'd expect them to need to be physically separated before one tried to kill the other. Even if the competition began as professional

22

hi_imovedagain t1_jegbmb0 wrote

Replying to Llanite (#2,546,761)

I’ve been translating lots of interviews of Ukrainian athletes. Yes, they are not trained in Ukraine. 1) you think they can be calm like nothing had happened? 2) let’s ignore the long-term consequences like rebuilding facilities which will take time - until the war ends and then until the funds come and restoration completes. So what, train in Europe for how long? 5 years? 10 years? All of those are short term contracts. Very stable environment. This btw also affects Ukrainian athletes as some of them think with despair of new generation of athletes that couldn’t receive the training. That’s directly the words of biathlon athlete. How would you do the training for teens, get a team? It’s not like the regular “go to this street 5 times a week” it’s “get on the bus, drive 24 hours, live there for half a year”. Add to this how many Ukrainian athletes have died in the war and what trauma it gets to the people performing at Olympics. And facing the citizens of a country whose fault it is, who don’t even feel the consequences on them - they can train as usual. And all of these thoughts get into your head while training for something big…

This isn’t about everyone else. It’s about russia, about facing consequences and about trauma. I think - and this is a completely Ukrainian pov - that this “sports transcends politics” situation is heiwa boke or being ignorant. You simply putting more trauma to traumatised people.

Ok imagine there’s a school shooting, and you have to go to other school because yours is damaged, and face the person who killed your classmates and everyone tells you that school must transcend your pain, anger and missing the pre-tragedy times. Besides, the shooter might do or say something provocative again - and you’re supposed to do nothing.

0

hi_imovedagain t1_jegculb wrote

Replying to Alternative_Spite_11 (#2,548,826)

I wrote below. It affects them a lot. Besides, they cannot train abroad forever, this whole situation is very unstable, with short term contracts, no future prospects, when you retire you do the burden for the team in order how to train new generation. All this while facing the smile of russian athletes that don’t have to worry about anything.

−4

Alternative_Spite_11 t1_jegdi8r wrote

Replying to hi_imovedagain (#2,549,010)

Yeah that’s the exact sort of thing high level athletes like to overcome and show everyone just how good they are. Russia should absolutely face consequences on a sporting level but this is giving the consequences to the Ukrainian athletes who will now lose because of the politics

0

hi_imovedagain t1_jegdkzk wrote

Replying to Llanite (#2,548,913)

Because most of Russian athletes have military ranks, they support war and even when performing under the neutral flag they show their Z marks. It’s not fun for Ukrainians. It’s not fun for other countries who suffered from russian imperialism.

1

Botv0091 t1_jegoapk wrote

Now it's silly to say that sports are outside of politics. The U.S. doesn't give a damn about that. But Ukraine encourages chauvinism at the state level and so-called "civilized" countries ignore it. The question is, when did these countries stop being civilized?

−2

Botv0091 t1_jegotjf wrote

Replying to hi_imovedagain (#2,539,092)

Ukraine is shelling Russian territory and territories it considers its own. People live there, too, and there are athletes there, too. We could talk about morality if Ukraine were calling for peace, but as you can see Ukraine is demanding more weapons and calling for chauvinistic acts.

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Botv0091 t1_jegp5ci wrote

Replying to Alternative_Spite_11 (#2,548,914)

If Russia is good at propaganda, why do you think the U.S. and other countries that own the largest media holdings are not good at propaganda? You approve of discrimination for some reason - which means you are already susceptible to propaganda.

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yamaha2000us t1_jegzghm wrote

They can refuse to compete in protest.

The US along with 65 other countries did this for the 1980 Olympics.

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axonemal t1_jeh45ds wrote

That is what happens when you have two leaders that hate each other. Trying to spread hate to everyone.

−2

Top-bar5888 t1_jeh4il9 wrote

Maybe I am an idiot, but I don't understand how a country under attack like they are can even spend time and money on training an athlete.

9