Campaign date: February 2023 – May 2023
Campaign summary: The global campaign to ban russian and belarusian athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics was coordinated by the Ukrainian Government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) – with the support of the Office of the President and the Ministry of Youth and Sports – and involved all possible stakeholders, including the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) and community groups worldwide.
In Australia, as a member of the UWC, the AFUO led the Australian-Ukrainian community response, with advocacy efforts targeted at the Australian Government, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) and its sponsors, parliamentarians and the media.
The AFUO’s advocacy was underpinned by the Ukrainian Embassy in Australia and the Ambassador, His Excellency Vasyl Myrochnychnenko. The Ambassador also liaised directly with the AOC, conducted media interviews and supplied key information from the MFA to bolster the AFUO campaign, including visual materials.
Key AFUO campaign actions:
- Several AFUO representations to the Minister for Sport, Anika Wells, for Australia to sign the joint statement by nations expressing severe doubts about the ‘neutrality’ model formulated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
- Setting up an AFUO Working Group to coordinate community advocacy, chaired by +Stefan Romaniw, which included AFUO board members and project officers, Australian-Ukrainian sportspeople, AFUO member organisation representatives and community members. The AFUO’s strategic communications consultancy, Sec Newgate, provided additional support.
- Preparing and sending letters from the AFUO co-chairs +Stefan Romaniw and Kateryna Argyrou to all AOC Board members, the Governor General (Patron in Chief of the AOC) and all AOC sponsors.
- Direct background outreach to senior AOC executives — via third parties over a number of months — to apply further pressure.
- Launching a Call to Action: community email campaign to AOC Board members. The AFUO, together with IT volunteers, set up an on-line platform which was promoted extensively on social media by all AFUO state hromada organisations and local community groups. This AFUO initiative was also promoted by the Ukrainian World Congress. In total, almost 500 emails were sent to AOC Board members.
- Liaising with the Australia Parliamentary Friendship Group for their support
- Raising awareness in the Australian media, which involved issuing media releases about the AOC’s position, and rallies in Sydney which received media photo coverage. Journalists were also given background briefings about the issue, which resulted in questions being directed to Matt Carroll, AOC CEO, at the National Press Club in March 2023.
- Working closely with prominent sports champions including Viktor Kovalenko OAM, head coach of the Australian Olympic Sailing Team; Iryna Klymets, an Olympic hammer thrower and Ukrainian Athletics Association member; Evan O’Hanlon, Australian sprinter and Paralympian; Heath Francis, Australian runner and Paralympian; and Malcolm Page, Australian professional sailor and dual Olympic champion. Bohdan Babijczuk, AFL High Performance specialist, also provided invaluable support and guidance.
Campaign outcomes: As a result of global pressure from Ukraine and around the world, including our actions in Australia, the IOC:
- Banned russian and belarusian teams from competing under their countries’ flags
- Banned athletes who publicly supported russia’s invasion of Ukraine
- Banned athletes with russian and belarusian military links
- Tripled the fund for the NOC of Ukraine to US$7.5 million (an extra US$5 million due to collective pressure)
The AFUO welcomed the Australian Government’s endorsement of the 34 nation joint statement and local media coverage of the issue.
