The Netherlands, Poland, Estonia, Norway, Ukraine, Lithuania and Italy are boycotting the International Gymnastics Federation's congress in Istanbul on November 11 and 12.
Sweden has considered doing the same, but has come to the conclusion that they are going to Istanbul after all.
- We have raised the issue on more than one occasion, most recently as late as this morning.
Until now, we have had the position that we will be there to take part in our democratic right in this context, says Malmborg and continues:
- It is important that we stand up for the values we have, but also mark where we stand on this issue.
We think it is very unfortunate that the international gymnastics federation has not chosen to follow the same line as the European one, that is to say, to limit not only practitioners but also elected officials.
The Secretary General says that they must make it clear that they do not support Russian and Belarusian participation.
- We will address the issue in some way.
Probably before the congress and then we'll see how it turns out during the congress.
But there is a week or so left and we are cooperating quite closely with our Nordic colleagues on the matter.
We have a fairly close dialogue with them.
- It is a complex issue.
Not participating is a statement you can make to distance yourself.
But we believe that we can also influence by being involved.
FIG's congress was previously moved from Norwegian Sandefjord to Istanbul because the Norwegian federation did not want to receive Russians and Belarusians.