Olympic medalist in diving Evgeny Kuznetsov spoke harshly of the officials of the International Olympic Committee (CIO ), which limited the admission of Russians to international competitions, noting that no sanctions were applied to athletes from the DPRK and Iran.
The 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.
— There is nothing supernatural in what I said earlier that the suspension of Russian athletes would be delayed. Anyone who is even the least interested in politics understands that the sanctions will not be lifted quickly. When serious politicians try to lobby, it takes a really long time.
— Do you think Russian athletes will participate in the 2028 Olympic Games without IOC sanctions?
— I’m not predicting anything, but I think that at the 2028 Olympics we will have admission problems. Maybe the conditions will be a little gentler for us, but they will be. It seems to me that the sum of the three Olympic cycles will ease the pressure on us a little. That is if our politicians convince entire groups that it is wrong to impose sanctions on neutral people. After all, sport has always been outside of politics, athletes are not responsible for anything.
For example, North Korea participates calmly (without IOC sanctions) in the World Championships and the Olympic Games, just like Iran. And targeted pressure is being exerted on Russia. This makes me laugh. They are pure clowns. They can’t break us, they try to impose everything on our athletes. But they will not succeed,” reports the correspondent of , according to Kuznetsov’s words.
Paris will host the 2024 Olympic Games 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.
