Riding the Wave: Russian Athletes Boost Wake Surfing Amid Ban Controversy
15:36 GMT 31.07.2024 (Updated: 15:39 GMT 31.07.2024)
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Efforts by Western powers and sports authorities to exclude Russian athletes from competitions could be described as “attempts to cancel Russians and Belarusians,” says John Shields, president of the Competitive Wake Surf Association (CWSA), USA.
“There were pet competitions, cats, dogs, that type of stuff that Russians were banned from participating in. There were music, art and cultural events that Russians were excluded from. And of course, we all know the economic, diplomatic and political things that have happened over the years,” he recalls.
“One of the things that we evaluated was what we were going to do, based on what we saw happening with other sport bodies, to think about this more broadly,” Shields adds. “So if we substituted the word Russian for blue eyes, okay, everybody with blue eyes gets banned. Or hair color or race or, you know, whatever immutable characteristic of a person you want to talk about. No one would find that acceptable.”
He praised the contribution by Russians to the development of wake surfing, noting that “over the past or at least 15 years the Russian competitors have been involved in wake surf competitions all over the world, and most especially those sanctioned by the CWSA.”
“Rules, standards, that type of stuff, the contributions of the Russian members and the Russian community in general has been very strong and very influential in the development of the sport,” Shields says.
Commenting on the Golden Stage of the World Series of the International Wakesurfing Association CWSA that was held in Moscow earlier this month, Shields described the competition as a “world class event.”
“The vibe for the competitors, the spectators, all the participants in the event was very focused on sport, on having a good time, enjoying wake surfing and watching the competitors in the event. The level of sport, as it's developed over the last several years, is incredible,” Shields said.
Riding the wave: Russian athletes boost wake surfing amid ban controversy
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Efforts by Western powers and sports authorities to exclude Russian athletes from competitions could be described as “attempts to cancel Russians and Belarusians,” says John Shields, president of the… pic.twitter.com/ibrSzHiqHj
He also appeared unamused by the recent opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris, arguing that “a number of themes” present in said ceremony did not help “to unify athletes, to celebrate their achievements, to celebrate their participation and to develop unity, friendship and understanding among the participating athletes.”
“There's the issue of the religious and religion-related issues. There's also, I see a fair amount of commentary regarding gender and sex related cultural issues. And of course, there's the overhang in the games of the exclusion by many of the International Federations, of Russian and Belarusian athletes from the event,” Shields explains.
