Russian president Vladimir Putin has been stripped of his taekwondo black belt by the World Taekwondo Federation as a result of his country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Putin was awarded the black belt by the head of the world body in 2013 and made a grandmaster of taekwondo during a visit to South Korea.
The sport’s governing body released a statement condemning the leader’s action, calling it “brutal attacks on innocent lives” that violated the sport’s values. It emphasised its motto of “peace is more precious than triumph”.
“In this regard, World Taekwondo has decided to withdraw the honorary 9th dan black belt conferred to Mr Vladimir Putin in November 2013,” read the statement.
It also added that anthems and flags of Russia and Belarus—Russia’s ally in invading Ukraine—would not be played or displayed at upcoming events.
The taekwondo announcement comes a day after the International Judo Federation suspended Putin’s honorary president status.
Putin has been a judoka since he was 11 and had even attended the event at the 2012 London Olympics.
The IJF is one of the few sporting bodies that has clearly termed the conflict as a “war”, while others carefully referred to it as “escalation of conflict”.
Putin, who in his youth won competitions in judo in St Petersburg, was awarded the eighth dan of the black belt in 2012, becoming the first Russian to achieve the status. There are claims though that he does not have the necessary skills to merit the belt.
He even co-authored a book titled Judo with Vladimir Putin in Russian, and Judo: History, Theory, Practice in English.
The sanctions by the taekwondo and judo bodies are personal hits to Putin, while the nation as a whole has been hit by various sanctions to their teams by other sporting bodies.
Last night, FIFA and UEFA suspended Russian national teams and clubs from international competitions after a growing demand for the country’s exclusion from the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
