“Destroying the image of the sport”: Games champion Rylov suspended for nine months for a rally

The International Swimming Federation filed a disciplinary action against Yevgeny Rylov on March 23. On the same day, it was announced that FINA, one of the few sports federations that had until then allowed athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete in tournaments under a neutral flag under its auspices, had banned athletes from these countries. until the end of 2022 due to the current political situation. Before this decision, a concert rally was held on the anniversary of the reunification of Russia with Crimea, held in Luzhniki, which Rylov visited, and the two-time Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion was posted on social networks. The swimmer has announced that she will not be performing at the upcoming World Championships.

“In support of the Russian Paralympic athletes, all the Russian athletes who have been suspended from international competitions, I refuse to go to the World Championships this summer. A sport that loses its competition loses its development. Sport cannot act without worthy opponents.

Federations must draw conclusions about the direction in which they want to develop the sport and whether Pierre de Coubertin wants to see when he launches the organization of the Olympic Games, which should unite people, ”wrote Rylov.

The investigation into the athlete took a full month. On April 22, FINA announced the suspension of Rylov’s participation in Federation-run competitions for a period of nine months, in addition to the main ban for Russian and Belarusian athletes.

Lawyer Anna Antseliovich told what exactly the International Swimming Federation accuses the athlete.

Eugene was accused of tarnishing the image of the sport, swimming and the FINA organisation, and they also tried to show a violation of the FINA code of conduct, but at this point we were able to defend our position.

Their position was: a rally dedicated to the referendum in Crimea, to attend a political event in support of the military operation in Ukraine. He accused FINA and the disciplinary commission supported them that it was a violation of the FINA constitution”, ”Maç TV quotes the lawyer.

Rylov refused to comment on the measure taken by socialbites.ca.

“I haven’t commented much yet,” he said.

Talking about the current situation, Rylov’s coach Andrei Shishin stated that there is little point in appealing a disqualification as Russia has been suspended from participating in tournaments under the auspices of FINA for approximately the same time.

“We came from training camp yesterday. I think we will deal with it, nine months is a period that can be passed without major losses. We continue to train, so I think we will see Evgeny in the sports arena. The possibility of performing at domestic competitions is being discussed, but at the moment he can compete there. We have not discussed it yet, but as a coach I think we will not object to it, because in general Russia was suspended for the same period, ”says TASS Shishin.

Commenting on the situation, Russian President’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov pointed out that the dismissal of Rylov is a continuation of the harmful line that politicizes sports.

“We believe this is absolutely against the idea of ​​sport. This ultimately harms international federations, hurting international competitions when the strongest do not have the opportunity to participate in them, ”said RIA Novosti from Peskov.

At the Tokyo Olympics, Rylov became the first Russian swimmer to win a gold medal in a swimming pool in a quarter century. The Russian took two medals of the highest standard in the back at the 100 and 200 meters distances, and also won a silver medal in the relay. The 200-meter distance athlete’s crown on the back, on which Rylov became a two-time world champion – in 2017 and 2019, and in 2018 he quickly won the world title.