China's Xi
Jinping and Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovych will attend but many in west have been
put off by Russia's anti-gay laws
The Guardian, Shaun Walker in Sochi, Wednesday 5 February 2014
Olympic, UN and national flags in the athletes village in Sochi. Photograph: Antonin Thuillier/AFP/Getty Images |
There will
be no Barack Obama, no David Cameron and no Angela Merkel in the stadium when
the Winter Olympics open in Sochi on Friday, but Vladimir Putin will at least
be able to enjoy the company of China's president, Xi Jinping, Japan's prime
minister, Shinzo Abe, and Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as well
as the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon.
The Kremlin
hoped to see dozens of world leaders at the opening ceremony, but the Winter
Olympics is not regarded as a "must attend" event, and many in the
west have been put off by controversy in the buildup to the Games, notably the
passing of a new law banning "gay propaganda".
Italy and
the Netherlands are among the few European countries to send high-level
representation to Sochi. The Italian prime minister, Enrico Letta, will attend
the opening ceremony, as will the Dutch king, Willem-Alexander. The Dutch prime
minister, Mark Rutte, is due to meet Putin in Sochi, despite a highly turbulent
year for Dutch-Russian relations and calls from the country's gay community to
boycott the Games.
Thomas Bach. Photograph: Yuri Kadobnov/ AFP/Getty |
Bach,
speaking in front of Putin and IOC officials from around the world, said:
"We are grateful to those who respect the fact that sport can only
contribute to the development of peace if it's not used as a stage for
political dissent, or for trying to score points in internal or external contexts."
He spoke
caustically of those who decided not to attend the Olympics, saying their
"contribution to the fight for a good cause consisted of publicly
declining invitations they had not even received".
In a clear
rebuke to Russia over its anti-gay laws, the US is sending a delegation that
includes two openly gay athletes – the 2006 Olympic ice hockey medallist
Caitlin Cahow and the figure skater Brian Boitano. Tennis legend Billie Jean
King had been chosen to help lead the delegation, but stepped down on Wednesday
because her mother is ill.
Billie Jean King was chosen to help lead the US delegation to Sochi, but will no longer attend because her mother is ill. Photograph: Jason DeCrow/AP |
Norway
announced that its health minister, Bent Hoeie, who is gay, would head its
official delegation to the Paralympics, which begin in March, and would travel
with his husband.
Alexander
Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, is also likely to attend the ceremony. He
shares Putin's passion for ice hockey and took part in a practice match with
Putin at the Olympic hockey arena last month.
Viktor Yanukovych. Photograph: Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty |
A
spokeswoman for Leonid Tibilov, the president of South Ossetia, said he had
been invited to the opening ceremony and to a reception for heads of state.
Russia recognised South Ossetia as independent after the 2008 war with Georgia,
but the territory is not allowed to compete in the Games.
At the same
time Russia also recognised Abkhazia, another breakaway province of Georgia,
which has a border a few miles from Sochi. Georgia has not sent a government
delegation to the Games in protest, but is sending four athletes.
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