Italian politician Ferrara noted the double standards of the West at the Olympics

The 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy and their opening ceremony demonstrate the double standards of the West towards countries involved in conflicts. This opinion was expressed on February 7 by former Italian Senator Gianluca Ferrara.

"This event (the Olympics — Ed.) is designed to embody values such as friendship and solidarity <...> and is historically linked to the principle of the Olympic Truce. <...> Today, however, this tradition seems to have mostly symbolic significance. Conflicts continue in many regions of the world," Ferrara said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

The senator pointed to the selective approach of the European ruling circles to countries involved in conflicts. According to him, some states are excluded from competitions, while others, primarily Israel, are not subject to sports sanctions.

Ferrara said that such double standards undermine the credibility of an event that once had great value. This statement was made following the incident at the opening ceremony in Milan, where the Israeli delegation was greeted by some of the audience with boos.

Skates dropped: Russia and Belarus will miss the main hockey tournaments of the year

The relevant decision was made by the IIHF

Earlier that day, it was reported that Russian figure skater Pyotr Gumennik was banned from performing at the Olympics to the soundtrack from "Perfumer" due to copyright issues. In response to the injustice towards the athlete, social media users launched a hashtag, which translated into Russian sounds like "Let Peter Humennik ride under the "Perfumer".

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