Russia’s national sports teams have been excluded from international tournaments left and right because of Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, but now the president himself is personally feeling the repercussions of his decisions.
World Taekwondo has stripped Puting of his honorary black belt given to him in 2013, and will ban the Russian and Belarusian flags and national anthems at future events.
Honorary black belts have been given to multiple prominent world leaders in recent memory. According to the Independent UK, U.S. Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, South Korean president Lee Myung-bak, and various leaders from Spain, Croatia, Pakistan, Indonesia and Honduras. But World Taekwondo said on Twitter that Putin went against the organization’s values by initiating the invasion.
World Taekwondo strongly condemns the brutal attacks on innocent lives in Ukraine, which go against the World Taekwondo vision of “Peace is More Precious than Triumph” and the World Taekwondo values of respect and tolerance.#PeaceIsMorePreciousThanTriumphhttps://t.co/nVTdxDdl2I
— World Taekwondo (@worldtaekwondo) February 28, 2022
“World Taekwondo’s thoughts are with the people of Ukraine and we hope for a peaceful and immediate end to this war,” World Taekwondo concluded.
Likewise, the International Judo Federation has levied a punishment on the president. Putin had been serving as honorary president of the organization since 2008, but that privilege has been temporarily suspended..
Putin is an avid judo participant and has even earned a black belt in the sport and co-authored several books on Judo, but despite his status and love for the sport, not even he was able to escape the rebuke of the IJF.
“In light of the ongoing war conflict in Ukraine, the International Judo Federation announces the suspension of Mr. Vladimir Putin’s status as Honorary President and Ambassador of the International Judo Federation,” the IJF said in a statement.