Russian national volleyball player Yakovlev hopes to compete in 2024 Olympics, despite current IOC entry requirements

Middle blocker for Zenit Saint Petersburg and the Russian national volleyball team Ivan Yakovlev told that the national team still hopes to participate in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, despite the Russians being excluded from all team sports.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on December 8 that it would grant neutral status to Russian and Belarusian athletes who successfully qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics. However, recommendations for admission include ban on the Russian national team from participating in team competitions.

— You have a tattoo dedicated to Tokyo 2020. How often do you remember these Olympic Games?

— Of course, this is one of the main competitions of my career. Games are not only memorable, they are impossible to forget. However, I think that the Olympic Games for every athlete is the maximum goal that can be achieved, it is a dream. The dream of every sportsman. I was lucky to be there. These are unique competitions, other emotions that cannot be felt while participating in other championships and tournaments. So we sincerely hope that something will change and our team will be allowed to participate in the Games in Paris. We hope and prepare until the last moment. We also regularly assemble a national team and train.

— At the same time, the IOC announced the conditions for the admission of Russian athletes to the Olympic Games in Paris, and team sports are not allowed at all.

“We live in a world where we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. All that remains is to believe it until the end. Tomorrow you could wake up and everything has changed: suddenly all teams will be allowed. For now, we try not to get discouraged. There are still more than six months until the Olympics. In principle, there is hope that we will go there in the end,” Yakovlev told .

The Paris Olympic Games will take place from July 26 to August 11.