Norway divided over boycott of Paris 2024 Olympics

Both the Norwegian public and the sports community are reluctant to take a firm stance on boycotting the Paris 2024 Olympics. In the background is the history of the country and its threads of favoritism towards Russia.

These are the findings of a nationwide poll conducted by Opinion’s Society Monitor and made available to VG, the country’s largest newspaper. The poll was conducted after the IOC opened a discussion on how Russian and Belarusian athletes could return to the sporting arena under the “neutral athletes” banner. The debate comes a year and a half before the Paris Olympics and has sparked outrage both in Norway and abroad.

The poll found that 58% of respondents answered “no” when asked whether athletes from Russia should be allowed to compete in international sports. 14% answered “Yes, anyway”, while 19% answered “Yes, but flying a neutral flag”. 44 percent of respondents believe that Norway should boycott sporting events involving athletes from Russia.

42% are against such a boycott.

– I am surprised that 44% think that we should boycott sporting events in which Russian athletes are allowed to participate, especially when this also applies to Russian athletes who did not support the war and compete under a neutral flag.

“The boycott is a radical measure and should be used with care,” says Professor Sigmund Loland of the Norwegian School of Sport Science. “If a boycott is going to be more than just an expression of opinion, it needs good support over time. If the goal is to change IOC policy, a larger segment of international sport needs to be united. If the goal is to change Russian policy, boycotts in many areas will need broad international support over time. A sports boycott will probably have symbolic value here,” says the professor.

Norwegian athletes are divided on the principle.

Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, the chairwoman of the Norwegian Athletes Committee, is said to have spoken out in favor of the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes at a meeting with the International Olympic Committee. The IOC does not support a boycott either: “Boycotts violate the principle that sport should bring athletes together regardless of war and conflict, as stated in the Olympic Charter. History also shows that sport boycotts are an inappropriate tool to achieve political goals, only hitting athletes from the boycotting countries,” said board member Kristin Kloster Aasen of VG, Norway’s largest daily newspaper.

The union NISO, which organizes Norwegian athletes, recently conducted a survey among its members. A majority – 80% – of athletes believe Russian and Belarusian athletes should remain banned for the time being: but still 13.6 percent of respondents believe these athletes will be allowed to compete again, according to NRK, Norway’s national broadcaster.

Shadows from the past project into the present

Most Norwegians are not so critical of Russian involvement. In the Opinion poll, one in three Norwegians say Russia should be allowed to participate, either “regardless” or flying a neutral flag. The fact that one in three Norwegians believe Russian athletes should participate may indicate that some Norwegians believe exclusion is not the right tool, says Tove Botnen, who is in charge of Opinion’s society monitor.

Norway has a tradition of taking a soft stance towards Russia and Eastern politics. It has firm roots in the past and history. Hans Wilhelm Steinfeld, one of the most prominent journalists on Russia and Eastern Europe, put it this way: “After a thousand years of sharing a border with Russia, Norway is the only neighboring country that has not gone to war with Russia. The last Tsar, Nicholas II, was the first head of state to recognize Norway as an independent state in 1905. He was a cousin of King Haakon VII on both his mother’s and father’s side.” Communism continued to have strong appeal among Norwegians after the Bolshevik Revolution. At its Extraordinary National Assembly on June 7-10, 1919, the Norwegian Labor Party decided to join the Communist International (Comintern). The Comintern was headquartered in Moscow and the Labor Party now became part of the international communist movement. Membership lasted a full 4 years. More recently, Norway became of great interest to the KGB, which found many easy targets for its activities.

Werna Gerhardsen, wife of longtime post-war Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen, is said to have collaborated with the Soviet Union during her husband’s tenure as Prime Minister. According to a retired KGB officer, she leaked NATO and other secrets to the KGB and had an affair with a KGB agent and diplomat named Yevgeny Belyakov. Jens Stoltenberg, the current head of NATO, was also in the KGB’s sights when he was active in the Labor Party’s youth wing, AUF. He was given the code name “Steklov” and a KGB defector, Mikhail Butkov, claims that Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was the KGB’s secret contact in the Defense Commission in 1990. Arne Treholt, a late Labor Party politician and diplomat, was arrested at 20 Fornebu Airport and charged with espionage. On 20 June 1985 he was sentenced by the Eidsivating Court of Appeal to 20 years in prison and confiscation of NOK 1.1 million for espionage in favor of the Soviet Union and Iraq.

Despite the bloody and brutal war against Ukraine, Norwegian society and athletes are still unsure whether Russian athletes will be able to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympics. There seems to be a strong desire in the country to end this war as soon as possible, lest the sports world lose touch with outstanding Russian athletes. The weight of Olympic gold seems to many Norwegians to be worth more than the blood of thousands of innocent women and children in Ukraine and other countless victims of Russian aggression. A time of war is always a moment of truth about a country.