Senior coach of the Russian national team Arsene Galstian told that Russian judokas would have won several medals at the Paris Olympics, but that these competitions can now be considered inferior.
At the end of June, the IOC allowed four Russian judokas to participate in the 2024 Olympic Games in neutral status; in total, Russia had 12 quotas for participation in the Games – 7 men and 5 women. After the IOC list was published, the President of the Russian Judo Federation (RDF) Sergei Soloveichik told that Russian judokas refuse to participate fully in the 2024 Games.
— Do you remember the evening of June 28, when it was announced that the Russians would not go to Paris?
– I didn’t believe it. However, we had a presidium with athletes, coaches and leaders. The head of the federation made an appeal that, unfortunately, the IOC had imposed such conditions on our athletes, so everyone came to the conclusion that none of ours would go there, because these conditions were humiliating and unacceptable for us.
I was very upset myself and I can’t imagine what our guys and girls were feeling. In early July we were supposed to go to the final training camp in Spain, then fly to Sochi, then to Paris. That was our plan.
There is so much work, we have done so much, but in the end everyone stays at home. I thought a lot about the guys, I put myself in their shoes – and mentally it was hard. I wrote words of support to the guys to at least cheer them up. But we are a family, a team that always supports each other! Everyone approached this news adequately, everyone accepted the decision of the presidium.
I was sure that our athletes would have made a splash at these Olympic Games, but now these Games will become incomplete. I don’t think there is any satisfaction in winning such a weakened tournament.
– In other words, Teddy Riner will not be happy because Inal Tasoev will not come to see her?
“If he wins, he will be happy, but he will definitely remember Tasoev’s absence and deep in his soul he realizes that there might not have been any gold if Inal had come to Paris,” Galstyan told .
The Paris Olympics will take place from July 26 to August 11.
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I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
