“It is very strange that Russians are allowed in individual sports, but not in team sports” – volleyball player Fetisova

The fact that Russian athletes have started to be allowed to participate in international competitions in individual sports, but not in team sports, is disappointing, said the European champion, Dynamo Moscow volleyball player and Russian national team, in an interview with . Irina Fetisova .

In March 2023, the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that international federations, if Russians are allowed to start, do so individually, in a neutral status, without participating in team events, and also exclude participation athletes. associated with law enforcement and expressing their support for the SVO.

– What do you think of the latest IOC recommendations on the admission of Russians?

“It’s not about attitude, it’s how I feel about it. It’s disappointment, sadness, to some extent anger. Before, there was a lot of talk when we were deprived of the national flag, when we were not allowed to sing the national anthem, but despite all that, we go, we want to perform. Someone says that it is impossible to perform in such a status, someone says that the main thing is to be able to compete in any case.I probably belong to the second category of people who believe that the life of an athlete is not long.

And why do we prepare for certain competitions, and the Olympics are the high point of any athlete’s career, and then these competitions are taken away from us? It’s very sad, because the Olympic Games are every athlete’s dream. As far as I know, some international federations have already admitted Russian athletes, they are already competing on the international stage – these are tennis, boxing, judo. We should be happy for them. They are individual sports, but why they are allowed, but not us team sports, I don’t know, it’s very strange. Unfortunately, as athletes, there is nothing we can do about it. They say sport is out of politics. But as we see now, he is still in some kind of politics, which is very sad,” Fetisova said in an interview with .