Olympic cross-country skiing champion Veronique Stepanova In her column on , she wrote that the conditions for the return of Russian athletes to the international stage are simple: absolute equality with other teams on all issues.
In February, the FIS Council extended the suspension of Russian and Belarusian athletes until further notice. Earlier, the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Committee had recommended that international federations allow Russians who did not support the OBC to compete and only in a neutral status.
— Expecting that all sports players in the West will wake up one morning and feel how much they miss the Russians is a utopia. Athletes and coaches are more or less neutral, but in any case, no one asked them and no one will. We have neither boxing nor the UFC, where the wishes of top athletes are usually listened to.
And those who decide something are interested in sports exclusively as a business. And while Bolshunov at the World Championships in Norway in 2025 is more bad than good for them personally. There is a lot of noise. Moreover, they generally continue to have the illusion that as soon as we are invited again, we will rush to them as quickly as possible and on any conditions. It will not be like that – our conditions are simple: absolute equality with other teams on all issues. No special conditions, exceptions, etc. The Russians compete on an equal footing or do not compete at all.
But one more thing is clear to me: it will really start to itch us only when we have competitions that could pose a threat to the current world sports system,” Stepanova wrote.
At the end of last season, Stepanova won the overall standings of the Russian Cup and also became the best in the long-distance running standings. At the end of the summer, the 23-year-old athlete posted a photo on social networks next to her crib and announced that she was about to become a mother and would therefore miss the upcoming season.
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I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
