Triple Olympic medalist in swimming Yulia Efimova After receiving neutral status from the International Swimming Federation (World Aquatics), she said she received support from the federation to compete internationally, but had problems with a visa for the Europe.
Efimova received neutral status from World Aquatics, which was awarded to the Russian on Friday, June 14. The status allows participation in international competitions under the aegis of the organization, including the qualifiers for the 2024 Games, of which there are a limited number remaining.
In early April, the president of the All-Russian Swimming Federation (RSF), Vladimir Salnikov, called the upcoming Olympic Games a “turn of the page” for Russian swimmers who will not participate in these Games. He later told that no one would stop Efimova from competing in neutral status at the Paris Olympics.
“The most important thing is that the International Federation (World Aquatics) quickly reviewed my application and supported me to participate in the Olympic Games. But there is no visa to Europe or entry at the start of the international qualifiers, and all of them end.
Apparently we should have gone to Asia, it’s easy to get a visa there and they treat us well. But now, the competition is already over.
— In other words, we need an international departure.
— Yes, exactly until June 23. World Aquatics has a list of competitions one can qualify for. These are their rules. And now all the deadlines are expiring before my eyes, and I don’t know what to do.
— Because of a commercial start in Rome, everything collapsed. Amazing!
— The International Federation is generally on my side: “We will do everything quickly for you now. » If I understand correctly, the president himself is interested. But the Italians sharply refused me: “It’s too late to submit an application, and it doesn’t matter to us who you play for,” Efimova told .
Efimova won two silver medals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2012 London Games. Efimova is a six-time world champion, she also has seven silver and four bronze medals at the World Championships and seven victories at the European Championships.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced in December 2023 that it would allow Russian athletes who successfully qualified for the 2024 Olympics to have individual neutral status without a flag, anthem or other national symbol. The IOC also banned the participation of athletes associated with security forces or who have expressed support for the SVO.
The Paris Summer Olympics will take place from July 26 to August 11.
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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.
