Dominik Hašek demands that the Russians openly condemn the war against Ukraine or be banned from the Paris Olympics

Russian and Belarusian athletes must declare loud and clear that they condemn Russia for the war in Ukraine or they will be banned from next year’s Olympics in Paris, Dominik Hašek, the hockey gold medalist, told The Associated Press.

Hašek, who won gold with the Czech team at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, said he is confident their presence at the Paris Games would otherwise result in “a huge promotion of the Russian war”.

The NHL great has been a prominent and outspoken critic of the International Olympic Committee’s recommendation that Russians and Belarusians compete in international competitions as neutral athletes.

“Everyone knows where those athletes come from,” Hašek told the AP in an interview. “They would represent the aggressive, imperialist war and the crimes and murders associated with it.”

He said it would be like supplying Russia with tanks, planes and ammunition.

The IOC and President Thomas Bach have set the definition of neutrality – not publicly supporting the war, nor contracted by the military since the invasion began in February 2022, competing without a flag, anthem or national colors – that sports governing bodies must decide how or if to Apply.

“I am convinced that all of us, the entire democratic world, should do everything we can to prevent the Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in the current circumstances,” Hašek said.

IOC officials have said the Olympic body could make its own decision on the Russian athlete issue “at the right time”, but also said excluding them based on their passport alone was discrimination.

The 2024 Olympic Games will start on July 26 next year.

A public and repeated condemnation of the war would be a necessary condition for the athletes to participate in the Olympic Games, Hašek said. Merely signing a statement with the same content is not enough.

In return, democratic countries must be willing to offer them and their families asylum and security. Hašek also came up with the idea of ​​creating a team of refugees – a common practice at the recent Olympics – because accepting them on Russia’s terms would be a sign of approval of the invasion.

“It’s an incredible promotion of the Russian war and it costs a lot of lives,” he said. “It is imperative that we stop it.”

Hašek has been invited to visit the European Parliament next month to explain his views.

“I can’t predict what impact it might have, but I want to do everything I can to convince them, and then they can convince others,” he said.

“The NHL is still in my heart”

Hašek has been proposing the exclusion of the athletes since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022 and in an open letter appealed in particular to the NHL and the two tennis tours to participate. That didn’t happen.

He is particularly disappointed with the response from the NHL and Commissioner Gary Bettman.

“Of course I’m very sad about it because the NHL is still in my heart,” said Hašek, who was known as the Dominator throughout his NHL career.

Hašek won six Vezina Trophies as the league’s top goaltender and twice won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player—the only goaltender to win the award twice—during a nine-year stint with the Buffalo Sabres.

He later helped the Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup in 2002 and 2008 and led the Czechs to Olympic gold in 1998. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014.

He suggested to Bettman that the NHL should pay off the contracts the Russian players signed as a way to ban them. Otherwise, he said, the NHL is partly responsible for what is going on in Ukraine.

He said he would demand that the league contribute a significant amount to Ukraine’s post-war renovation.

“It wouldn’t be a few million, but a big chunk of the revenue,” he said. “My goal is not to harm the NHL, but to make it pay for its behavior.”

Hašek said tennis and other sports governing bodies that accept the Russians should do the same because “they support the Russian war”.

Hašek said that he personally does not support boycotting the Paris Olympics because he does not want to rob the athletes of their Olympic dreams.

He said the last chance to stop the Russians and “save many lives” will be in the hands of France, pointing out that as the host country it has the power to refuse them entry.

In early June, Hašek spent five days in Ukraine, including Kiev and Kharkiv and the cities of Irpin and Bucha recovering from brutal occupation by Russian forces.

His aim was to express support for the country in its fight against Russian aggression and to encourage the local hockey community, including youth players, when half of all rinks in the war-torn country are unavailable.

Hašek has dismissed the critics who say sports should not be mixed with politics, noting that countries use their successful athletes to achieve their goals.

“That is common and there is nothing wrong with it until a state engages in killings and killings and the athletes become a propaganda tool for it,” Hašek said. “That is the case with the Russian and Belarusian athletes. And we have to stop that.”