Russia will not send any participants to the Paris Olympics after only four of its seventeen judokas received permission from the International Olympic Committee to compete, the country’s judo federation said on Friday.
Russia and Belarus were banned from sending national teams to the Games more than two years after President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. Belarus, Russia’s closest ally, allowed its territory to be used to carry out the invasion.
Many athletes from both countries are allowed to participate in Paris as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) without their flags, anthems and emblems, subject to an IOC review to ensure they have no military connections.
The Russian judo federation, in a statement on its website, said it would not accept the IOC’s decision. “Until the end we hope that common sense and the desire to hold a full Olympic Games with athletes from Russia and Belarus will prevail over political intrigues”, the statement said. “Unfortunately, our hopes were not fulfilled… Under the circumstances, the Russian Judo Federation has unanimously decided that the Russian judo team will not accept the shameful conditions and will not participate in the Paris Games in the manner suggested by the IOC Officials,” he said.
Source: La Verdad
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