The Russian chess player Garry Kasparovformer world champion and chess ‘Grand Master’, has criticized the International Olympic Committee (IOC), its president Thomas Bach and other major sports organizations and has accused them of becoming “tools of dictators” like the Russian president Vladimir Putin.
“I am not a fan of Mr. Bach or other leaders, whether from the IOC or FIFA, because they have direct or indirect relations with the Putins of this world,” Kasparov told German public broadcaster ARD.
Kasparov, world chess champion from 1985 to 1993, said that sport had helped Putin on its aggressive path in awarding Russia the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the 2018 World Cup and other world championships.
In addition, he assured that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raises questions about how to deal with sports organizations that, willingly or unwillingly, have become “tools of dictators.”
Kasparov said autocratic leaders have seen major sporting events as an opportunity to clean up their image from the 1936 Olympics in Berlinduring the Nazi mandate of Adolf Hitler in Germany. “Putin stuck to the textbook but optimized it because he had more money than any other dictator in the past,” Kasparov said.
However, he believes Putin’s huge, carefully constructed network of agents has now collapsed because he “completely underestimated” the Western world’s reaction to the invasion, according to Kasparov.
“It is very important that something like this never happens again.. Because Putin has shown us how to reinforce his agenda through the use of these international events and sports organizations. It cannot be that events as tragic as in Ukraine are necessary to wake up,” he said.
