The Russian Judo Federation will not send any athletes to the Paris Olympic Games which begin on July 26. The body does not agree with the criteria set by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) following the war in Ukraine.
The IOC had invited only four of the 17 Russian judokas to participate in the Olympics under a neutral banner. “We hoped until the end that common sense and the desire to organize the Games with the Russians and Belarusians would prevail over political issues. Unfortunately, our hopes were not realized. The federation unanimously decided that the Russian judo team will not accept these humiliating conditions and will not participate in the Games in Paris,” the federation responded in a statement.
The IOC has so far invited 47 Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the Olympic Games but under a neutral banner. Four judokas were invited with Valerii Endovitskii (+100 kg) and Makhmadbek Makhmadbekov (-73 kg) for the men and Elis Startseva (+78 kg) and Dali Liluashvili (-63 kg) for the women.
Belgium will send four representatives in judo with Matthias Casse (-81 kg), Jorre Verstraeten (-60 kg), Toma Nikiforov (-100 kg) and Gabriela Willems (-70 kg).
2024-06-29 08:41:04
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