Topline
The international governing body of basketball announced Tuesday it would not allow the Russian men’s basketball team to participate in upcoming Olympic qualifying tournaments, effectively blocking the team from competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics, as sports organizations continue to prohibit Russian athletes from competing amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia was barred from men’s basketball Olympic qualifers.
Key Facts
FIBA, the International Basketball Federation, decided Tuesday to prevent Russia from registering for its Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments, the international qualifying event for men’s basketball.
FIBA executives cited an earlier decision by the International Olympic Committee, which allows Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as independent Olympians, but not as a team representing their country or an organization affiliated with their country.
The announcement does not mention Belarus—also included in the IOC’s decision—though the country does not rank high enough to participate in either the men’s or women’s tournaments.
The Russian men’s national team joins the women’s national team, which also missed out on qualifying for the Olympics after it was suspended from two qualifying tournaments last year.
FIBA previously said it would prohibit Russian teams and officials from participating in any international events.
Surprising Fact
Other sports organizations have canceled Olympic qualifying events because Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to participate, including the Polish Fencing Federation, which canceled a women’s foil event earlier this month. Both the French and German fencing federations announced similar cancellations. The International Ice Hockey Federation announced it would uphold its ban on Russian and Belarusian teams last month and prohibit teams from either country from participating in upcoming championships and tournaments. The International Gymnastics Federation has banned all Russian and Belarusian gymnasts “until further notice.” The Union Cycliste Internationale, sports cycling’s governing body, banned cyclists from either country from participating—though they can compete as “neutral” athletes.
Contra
Wimbledon announced last month it would allow Russian and Belarusian players to participate if they remained “neutral” about the war in Ukraine. The tennis organization joined the U.S. Open, which said last year they would allow athletes from either country in order to not hold “the individual athletes accountable for their actions and decisions of their governments.”
Key Background
Bans on Russian and Belarusian athletes follow an initial decision by the IOC to ban athletes from both countries from participating in international sporting events. The IOC has since reversed this decision and said it would allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate under a neutral flag. Representatives from more than 30 nations, including the U.S., the U.K. and host country France, issued a statement in February that said they “do not agree” with the IOC’s reversal. Other countries have suggested they would boycott the Olympics, including Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Denmark. Individual athletes have also protested against the decision, after more than 300 former and active international fencers called for a ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes to be upheld, suggesting their participation would be “a catastrophic error.”
Further Reading
Poland Cancels Olympic Qualifying Event Over Russian Participation—Here Are The Sports That Still Have Russia Bans (Forbes)
Wimbledon Reverses Ban, Will Let Russian And Belarusian Players Compete (Forbes)
IOC Defends Decision To Allow Russian Athletes At 2024 Olympics—Fencers Protest ‘Catastrophic Error’ (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2023/04/18/russias-mens-basketball-team-banned-from-2024-olympics/