Swimming: Russians and Belarusians finally excluded from the Worlds

The body's office took into account an "independent risk assessment" to ban swimmers and officials from the two countries from the Worlds-2022 (June 18-July 3) due to the invasion of Ukraine by the Russia, Fina said in a statement.

"Following these decisions, Fina has been informed by the Russian Swimming Federation of the withdrawal of all Russian swimmers" from its competitions "for the rest of this year", specifies the organization.

Russian Ilya Borodin, during the final of the 400m 4 swim at the European Championships, May 23, 2021 in Budapest Attila KISBENEDEK AFP / Archives

Swimming thus joins the many sports that have excluded Russian athletes from international competitions, from football to athletics, including ice hockey, rugby, badminton, handball, cycling and the Paralympic Winter Games.

At the beginning of March, the Fina had nevertheless distinguished itself by authorizing Russians and Belarusians to compete as long as they do so under a neutral banner, as in tennis, boxing or judo.

But this position became difficult to hold in the face of protests from other delegations, the Swiss Swimming Federation having for example threatened to boycott the Worlds in the event of Russian and Belarusian participation.

The Fina has also withdrawn from Russia the competitions it was to host, including the Short Course World Championships scheduled for Kazan (December 17-22), and is looking for another host city.

Finally, she opened disciplinary proceedings against the Russian Evgeny Rylov, reigning Olympic champion in the 100m and 200m backstroke, for his "alleged participation in a pro-war rally at the Luzhkini stadium in Moscow".

Russian Evgeny Rylov poses with his gold medal, after winning the 200m backstroke final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, July 30, 2021 Jonathan NACKSTRAND AFP/Archives

Among the headliners of Russian swimming are also Kliment Kolesnikov, Olympic vice-champion in the 100m backstroke and bronze medalist in the 100m freestyle, and Anton Chupkov, 4th in the 200m breaststroke at the Tokyo Olympics.

© 2022 AFP