Sports leaders say politics, sport remain inseparable

PARIS, France — International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Kirsty Coventry’s desire is that “politics does not take over on the field of play,” but Ukraine and former executives from her organization have told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that politics and sport remain inseparable. Coventry’s view will be sorely tested when Ukrainian and Russian athletes — the nations embroiled in a war sparked by Russian President Vladimir Putin launching an invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — compete side-by-side in the Youth Olympics which start in the Senegalese capital Dakar on Saturday. The 13 Russian athletes will be able to parade with their national flag and hear their national anthem at an Olympic event for the first time since the 2020 Winter Youth Games in Lausanne. The restoration of such symbols fits with the approach that Coventry indicated she would follow when she spoke at the EU Sporting Forum in Cyprus earlier this year. “Athletes can only inspire us if they are able to compete,” the Zimbabwean two-time Olympic swimming gold medalist said. “They can only do so if we keep sport strictly neutral ground, if politics does not take over on the field of play,” she added. Ukraine Sports Minister Matviy Bidnyi dismisses that view. “Any conversation about returning...