“The IOC leadership is playing a dishonest game, but we must remember the existence of fair play” – Rodnina

Three-time Olympic champion and State Duma deputy Irina Rodnina told that the suspension of Russian athletes is contrary to the Olympic Charter.

At the end of March, the IOC announced recommendations for the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competitions. Recommendations include individual admission, neutral status, banning participation in team sports, and banning the participation of athletes associated with security forces or who have expressed support for the SVO.

— The president of the All-Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation (VFHG), Irina Viner, called for a boycott of the Olympic Games. What do you think of that?

— We already organize many competitions in the country. Regarding the boycott, I think that such a decision should be made by the country’s leadership and the Ministry of Sports. Focusing on the statement of one or the other is not entirely correct. We need to understand what comes next.

I was adamantly against it when they started talking about how we couldn’t play without the flag and the anthem. I believe we were obliged to speak because the accusations, although exaggerated, were made against us, but they were objective. There have indeed been numerous cases of positive doping tests among Russian athletes. From 2006 to today, we have lost more than 40 Olympic medals. We are not talking about justice or injustice now, but it is a fact. That’s a very large number. Naturally, the IOC and WADA then concluded that these were serious and systematic violations in different sports by representatives of the same country.

In the current situation of suspension, Russian athletes have not violated anything: it is a purely political decision which contradicts the Olympic Charter. The IOC leadership is playing an unfair game, but we must remember the existence of fair play discipline.

The decision on a possible boycott of the Olympic Games must therefore be taken by everyone. In 1980, we went to the Olympic Games in Lake Placid, knowing that the day before the tournament began there would be an IOC session at which it would be decided whether the Olympic Games would be held in Moscow. We all understood perfectly that if the decision was negative for Russia, we would get up and move on. As a result, the decision was made to boycott the 1984 Olympic Games. And now we must make a decision that everyone will agree with. There cannot be a half-hearted choice here,” Rodnina told .

On October 12, the IOC suspended the membership of the ROC until further notice due to the inclusion in the organization of the Olympic councils of the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. According to the IOC, the ROC thus “violated the Olympic Charter”. At the same time, the IOC reserves the right to decide on the admission of individual Russian athletes to participate in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and the 2026 Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in neutral status. The ROC said the IOC had made a counterproductive decision with obvious political motivations.