Former world heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko praises sports bodies for sanctions against Russia, Belarus

Wladimir Klitschko lauds IOC, Fifa, Uefa and others for taking action after Ukraine invasion

Klitschko and his brother Vitali, also a former world heavyweight champion and now the mayor of Kyiv, are both fighting invaders

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Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko, (left) and his brother and former Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:00pm, 3 Mar 2022

Former world boxing heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko has lauded the sports community for coming together to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes following the invasion of his country Ukraine last week.

Since the beginning of what Russian President Vladimir Putin has called “a special military operation”, Russian and Belarusian teams and athletes have been frozen out of international events by many sporting bodies.

Belarus has been a key staging area for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv mayor and former heavyweight champion (right) and his brother Wladimir Klitschko, at City Hall in Kyiv. Photo: AP

“I’m proud of the world’s unity and seeing sporting communities standing together – the International Olympic Committee, boxing federations, Uefa, Fifa, Formula One,” Wladimir Klitschko told Sky Sports.

“Ban Russian teams from participating. I have nothing against the athletes but they are presenting the regime and in some way the connection with this war.

“It’s never enough until the war is going to be stopped but it’s important to show the world is not OK with this war, that the sporting world is not OK with it.”

Klitschko and his brother Vitali, also a former world heavyweight champion and now the mayor of Kyiv, have both taken up arms against invading Russian forces.