Sautin on the new IOC rules to change sports citizenship: “Everyone wants to win money and wants a medal”

Double Olympic diving champion Dmitri Sautin told that there would be no exodus of staff in his sport due to new International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules, but that transitions are still possible in the future as many want to compete for medals at major international competitions.

Previously, the IOC approved the change of sports citizenship of Greco-Roman wrestler Georgy Tibilov, cyclist Valeria Lyubimova and cyclist Mikhail Yakovlev without the approval of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and without the standard three-year quarantine.

— Will this decision increase the number of transitions?

— Time will tell how the situation develops. We certainly won’t have that. It’s difficult for me to talk about other sports. We are now seeing transitions taking place. Everyone wants to live, everyone wants to earn money, everyone wants to have a medal. But that’s another question,” Sautin told .

In October, the IOC Executive Committee suspended the membership of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in the organization due to the inclusion of the Olympic councils of the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions in the ROCK. It was reported that 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.