Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics Liliya Akhaimova said that she will not go to the Olympics under the conditions put forward by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for Russian athletes “Soviet sport”.
“I performed in an environment where there was neither flag nor anthem. But we had the tricolor Tchaikovsky. This means a lot. I would not accept the conditions that the IOC is currently putting forward,” Akhaimova said.
At the end of February 2022, the International Olympic Committee issued a call to international sports federations and recommended that Russian and Belarusian athletes not be allowed to participate in any competitions.
At the meeting of the IOC Executive Committee on March 28, 2023, it was proposed to allow the Russians to remain in neutral status if the athletes are not actively involved in supporting military operations.
Akhaimova won the 2020 Olympics. She became the winner of the European Championship in 2018.
Previously, the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine had asked the IOC to impose sanctions on the Russian Olympic Committee.
Source: Gazeta
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