"If we give in we are lost" - IOC president on Wimbledon ban

Wimbledon and the British government have come under fire from International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach for the move to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from the 2022 Championships.

He used Wimbledon and its government-influenced decision to ban those players back in April as a warning to other international sporting federations at the 46th General Assembly of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF).

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ASOIF has 32 members, including the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the body that governs the Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup, junior tennis, Olympic tennis and lower level ITF events. Speaking after the meeting in Lausanne, Bach said:

“We need the respect of [world] governments for our role. Look at our friends from tennis. In Paris, Russian [and Belarusian] players can play as neutral athletes. In London, at Wimbledon, the [UK] government is saying no way. And if we (sporting federations) allow this, if we give into this, then we are lost.”

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Bach further added:

"How then can you guarantee in your sport a fair international competition, if the governments are deciding according to their own political interests, who can take part in a competition and who cannot take part? If you open this gate, today, it is Russia and Belarus, tomorrow it is your country. There is no country in the world which is loved by every other government.”

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