He is the first refugee to stand on the podium at the European Athletics Championships, but the day after his triumph over 10,000 m he learns that he is not allowed to run for Switzerland at the Olympic Games. Is this a retaliation?
An emotional fall could hardly be deeper: On Wednesday, Dominic Lobalu became European champion over 10,000 m in Rome wearing the Swiss Athletics jersey. And he had barely returned to Switzerland on Thursday when he received the decision from the International Olympic Committee (IOC): he would not be allowed to compete for Switzerland at the Summer Games in Paris.
The story of the athlete, who was born in what is now South Sudan, is complicated. As a child he fled to Kenya, where he made it into the international refugee team thanks to his talent for running, but he was exploited more than he was supported. In 2019 he dropped out of a competition in Geneva and, via a detour, ended up in St. Gallen, where he found a trainer, mentor and friend in Markus Hagmann.
Lobalu wins European Championship gold without Swiss passport
The young man became a world-class runner, and the Swiss Athletics Association soon began to campaign for him to be allowed to compete in international championships. This required a lot of persuasion and pressure, because according to Swiss law, Lobalu cannot be naturalized until 2031 at the earliest. But at the beginning of May, the last hurdle was overcome, and the World Athletics Association announced that Lobalu would be allowed to compete for medals even without a passport.
It remains unclear whether this also applies to the Summer Games, as the final decision lies with the IOC. The Olympic Charter states: “Every competitor at the Olympic Games must be a national of the country of the NOC that registers him.” The IOC Executive Commission relies on this, but according to the implementing regulations for the relevant paragraph, it would have had the opportunity to make an exception for Lobalu.
At least the Executive Committee decided to open a door for the runner. He will be invited to join the refugee team that was selected by the IOC a month ago for the Games in Paris and will compete there under the Olympic flag.
It is still unclear whether Lobalu will accept this invitation. His trainer Hagmann simply says: “We will examine the option.” Swiss Athletics reacted similarly. Association president Christoph Seiler is not very pleased: “World Athletics did not make it easy for itself and made a remarkable decision.” The IOC is now ignoring this, although the specialist associations are generally responsible for the selections at the Olympics. “We will examine whether there is an option for appeal,” says Seiler.
The Swiss association has always stressed that it is about helping the world-class runner Lobalu to get the right to compete in championships – regardless of whether he wears the Swiss cross on his chest or not. Nevertheless, it should be examined whether it makes sense for him to start for the refugee team. Would that mean, for example, that he would also live with this team in the Olympic Village and be looked after by a trainer he doesn’t even know?
This is not an insignificant question, because Lobalu has a very close relationship with his coach Hagmann. He was competing at the European Championships in Rome for the first time as a medal candidate, had to get used to a lot of new things and still ran tactically superbly. This also had to do with the fact that Hagmann took unpaid leave from his job as a teacher to look after the runner on site.
A retaliation for World Athletics?
Finally, the question arises as to why the IOC is allowing Lobalu to compete, but not for Switzerland. He is by far the best refugee in the world and has a chance of winning a medal at the Olympic Games – does the IOC want to use his help to shine the spotlight on the refugee team? Or is it even about getting one over on World Athletics?
The IOC has decided to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under a neutral flag. However, they are not allowed to compete in athletics because the association has excluded these two countries because of the war of aggression against Ukraine. IOC President Thomas Bach is not particularly amused by this exclusion of one of the main Olympic sports.
It could well be that Lobalu is being used for sports-political purposes. And the athlete, who had to watch his parents being massacred at the age of nine and who found a home in Switzerland after an odyssey, definitely does not deserve that.