Russia will not send any participants to the Paris Olympics after only four of its seventeen judokas received permission from the International Olympic Committee to compete, the country’s judo federation said on Friday.
Russia and Belarus have been banned from sending national teams to the Games more than two years after President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. Belarus, Russia’s closest ally, allowed its territory to be used to carry out the invasion.
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Several athletes from both countries are allowed to participate in Paris as individual neutral athletes (AIN) without their flags, anthems and emblems, subject to IOC vetting to ensure they have no connection to the military.
The Russian judo federation, in a statement on its website, said it could not accept the IOC ruling. “Until the very end we hoped that common sense and the desire to hold a full Olympic Games with athletes from Russia and Belarus would prevail over political intrigues.”, says the statement. “Unfortunately, our hopes have not been fulfilled… Under the circumstances, the Russian Judo Federation has unanimously decided that the Russian judo team will not accept the humiliating conditions and will not participate in the Paris Games in the manner proposed by Officials of the IOC,” he noted.
2024-06-29 07:16:38
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