“The conditions are such that practically no one can go”: Chernyshenko spoke about the IOC’s requirements for Russians

The International Olympic Committee has finally announced all the requirements that will be presented to neutral athletes at the Games in Paris.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko believes that due to the conditions created by the IOC, it will be difficult for Russians to get to the Olympic Games.

“The conditions created by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and international federations are such that practically none of our athletes will be able to go there - they will not be able to qualify. There are very few sports where such an opportunity remains. And then the national federations and the Russian Olympic Committee will have to make decisions together. If the athletes have the opportunity, then they should probably go,” TASS quotes him as saying.

Former Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov believes that athletes should make their own decision about participating in the Olympics.

“Chernyshenko expresses his personal opinion. Athletes are adults, they will look at the restrictions from the IOC. Their participation in the Olympics is presented as a sop. Seeing how humiliating all this is happening, the guys will make a decision. Would you go yourself? I wouldn't want my position to influence our athletes. It's time to grow up and take responsibility for your actions. Of course, this is a difficult decision: they spend 10-15 years of their lives to become professionals in their field,” Kolobkov noted.

According to IOC officials, a maximum of 54 Russian representatives will be able to travel to Paris. At the moment, 12 athletes already have clearance: taekwondoists and wrestlers have four quotas each, and road racing cyclists have another five. Eight tennis players in singles will also be eligible to compete at the Olympics.

In judo and wrestling, qualifications continue; a maximum of 14 and 18 people from the Russian Federation in these types can go to France, respectively. In golf, Natalia Guseva is still among the participants in the Games - to travel to Paris, she needs to stay in the top 60 of the IGF rankings until June 24. And four trampoline players will go to the final stage of the World Cup at the end of March, which will be decisive in the selection. In tennis, Russians and Belarusians will receive additional places for doubles and mixed doubles.

There is time for boxers to change their minds, who, according to FBI Secretary General Tatyana Kiriyenko, are receiving personal invitations to the Olympics. However, so far the position of the athletes is clear: they refuse to go to Paris without the flag and anthem of the country.

“Russian boxers are deservedly considered one of the best in the world. Our team at all international tournaments competes only for the first team place, so our leading athletes actually receive individual invitations to the Olympic Games in Paris. But the conditions of these invitations are simply unacceptable; not a single athlete of ours can accept them.

We have a friendly and honest team, we are a real family, we do everything together. And we have long formulated and voiced our position on the inadmissibility of performing at the Games in a neutral status. Moreover, this position is primarily of our boxers, and not just of the leadership. On my own behalf, I would like to add that I am very proud of our boxers: they are true patriots and role models,” Kiriyenko told RT.

Meanwhile, Russian swimmers, who were also subject to strict requirements by World Aquatics for admission to the Olympic competitions, seem to have found an opportunity to compete under their flag: 20 athletes will take part in a tournament in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of April.

“These competitions are not held under the auspices of World Aquatics, so there are no restrictions,” explained the head of the WFTU, Vladimir Salnikov.

According to the official, the athletes are not faced with the task of fulfilling the Olympic standard. Nevertheless, swimmers still have a theoretical chance of getting to the Games, as do representatives of some other sports.

At the same time, according to State Duma deputy Svetlana Zhurova, the ROC and the Ministry of Sports should not rush to announce their position on the situation.

“I propose to calmly observe what is happening and for as long as possible, until the last day, not answer whether we will go or not. This will be our strategy. Let them boycott themselves and create scandals. If we don’t go and say about it now, then it’s a gift for the IOC. Are we ready to give them such gifts? Athletes become hostages of the situation. We need to do what is convenient for our country, and not submit to their faceless conditions,” Sport-Express quotes Zhurova as saying.

The head of the ROC, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, also spoke out in his Telegram channel. He was outraged by the words of the head of the IOC, Thomas Bach, who said that the organization would return the Russian Olympic Committee to its ranks when it began to comply with the rules.

“If we summarize the statements of the last two days from the IOC, there is a strong feeling that the leadership of this organization has plunged into a deep looking glass, where cause-and-effect relationships are reversed, black is seen as white, and some kind of parallel world is presented as reality,” Pozdnyakov wrote .

According to the head of the ROC, the IOC has lost its independence.

“Are there really still people in the world of sports who, thinking adequately, do not understand that the key to resolving artificially created contradictions in the Olympic family, which has always been in the hands of Lausanne, has today been transferred by it to the other side of the Atlantic? The IOC, unfortunately, has lost its autonomy and independence, this is clearly reflected in the mirror of the world. Therefore, all slogans and declarations today are from behind the looking glass,” Pozdnyakov concluded.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in turn, noted that the West will continue to politicize sports.

“We consider it unacceptable to politicize sport, although this line of the West, with the support of international officials, continues and it does not seem that it will end soon,” RIA Novosti quotes Lavrov as saying.

And the president of the Russian Wrestling Federation, Mikhail Mamiashvili, even suggested that Bach leave his post.

“What kind of temptations had to be subjected to this person for him to become so deformed! There is an IOC charter, and no one has the right to interpret it that way. If you want to get involved in politics, then leave your post of IOC President, to which you were elected, and go get involved in politics. Then there will be no questions for you,” he said.