Wickenheiser among dozen Canadian athletes demanding IOC boot out Russia

From calling for ejection to athletes lobbying for more punishment, Canada has invested in sport sanctions against Russia on multiple fronts.

International sport governing bodies barring Russia from events in response its invasion of Ukraine means Russians will likely not compete in March's women's world curling championship in Prince George, B.C.

Six-time Olympian Hayley Wickenheiser was among Canadian and international athletes calling for the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee to take the ultimate step of booting Russia and invasion-supporter Belarus out of the Olympic and Paralympic movements.

"I 100 per cent believe until Russia, the aggressor in this war, and anyone supporting Russia and the invasion and the killing of innocent people, until that stops Russia has no place in the Olympic movement, which is about peace and the world working together," Wickenheiser told The Canadian Press on Monday. 

"I think they need to ban Russia, Belarus."

Just over a week after the close of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the IOC recommended Monday that Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials be excluded from competition by international sport federations.

WATCH | Ukrainian athletes call for Russia, Belarus to be banned from Paralympics:

Wickenheiser, who capped her eight-year term on the IOC's athletes commission this year, says that edict lacks teeth as has the IOC's handling of Russia's doping scandal since 2014.

"Unfortunately, I've witnessed this dance with Russia for eight years. It's always appeasement," she said. "There's never harsh enough sanctions taken and it's time for that."

The Canadian Olympic Committee and the COC Athletes' Commission echoed  Wickenheiser's call