I really enjoy speaking with Sportschau, which I think is the most influential sports program on German television. To their credit, they feature the work of Robert Kempe, who does great work on sports and politics, and who pursues difficult stories with nuance and integrity. It’s a hard combo but I think he does it admirably.

In this segment, he investigates the impossible situation of having Russian and Belarusian athletes participating in global sport while the Russian state pursues its lunatic war against Ukraine. It’s not right to discriminate against anyone based on their passport, but at the same time, how can athletes from these countries possibly appear on the world stage given what their state is doing?

You should watch the whole bit, but my commentary on this terrible problem is at 1:50, 4:30, 6:45. It’s all in German (I was overdubbed from English), so if you don’t speak, basically the gist of what I said is that the best solution would be to cancel the Games, in the same way that they were paused during the World Wars. How can we celebrate global sport and togetherness during times like these? Watch the segment on YouTube here. And here’s my earlier post about Sportschau. Honestly, it’s a pleasure and an honor.