President of the All-Russian Swimming Federation Vladimir Salnikov in an interview with , he said that the idea of organizing a Russian-American meeting at the official level would be nipped in the bud, so such a thing could be organized unofficially at a joint meeting.
Russian swimmers were not allowed to participate in international competitions due to the situation in Ukraine. In September, the International Swimming Federation (World Aquatics) decided to admit Russians in a neutral status, following the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – admission is only individual, with no possibility of participating in swimming races. relay, and at the World Championships there is a ban on communication with the media. Salnikov later said that to be admitted, athletes must sign a special declaration. At the same time, the FSM intends to seek the full restoration of the rights of Russians to participate in competitions under the auspices of World Aquatics.
— Is it realistic to organize a Russia-United States swimming match? He would have an excellent grade. Or are the Americans refusing to contact us?
“Now the pressure comes not only from our own government, but also from international federations and Olympic committees. It is not at all easy for an ordinary American athlete to understand what awaits him. You know, last year the German team was supposed to participate in the Salnikov Cup. They put it on their calendar as an official competition. But no one came. Not because they didn’t want to. But because they were told: “If you leave, we will deprive you of your allowance and cancel the budget”. Of course, they made a decision in their favor.
Match meetings are ideal. But if we formalize the Russia-US match, the idea will be nipped in the bud and new sanctions will be invented. But we have a project in the development phase.
– Which?
— Unofficially organize the Russia-United States match as part of a joint training camp.
– Wow!
— Let’s say we collect at point X. I won’t say where. But several teams come there, including ours. Everyone works according to their own schedule. And at the end of this course there will be a friendly match. Just for me. But it should give impetus to “let’s go back to the old values, guys, and forget what sports officials tell us about how not to be friends.” And this impulse can raise a whole wave, and against this background we can develop everything else,” Salnikov told .
Source : MatchTV

I’m John White and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. My specialty is covering sports news, which I’ve been doing for over 6 years now. During this time, I have worked as an author with Athletistic, a popular online news website focusing on sports topics.