Lidiya Ivanova, a two-time Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics, described as an insult the words of International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach that Russians will not boycott the Games in Paris. His words were quoted “Match TV”.
“I am disgusted by Bach’s statement, it is simply an insult. I am not at all happy with this point of view of the IOC President, but it turned out that he won, not a single country boycotted the Olympics because one of the Russians agreed to compete. I never agree with this; “It is humiliating to represent a great power like Russia in one and a half sports with five athletes at the Olympics,” he said.
He also noted that the Russian representatives of his sport were boycotting the Games due to unacceptable conditions.
At the end of February 2022, the IOC issued a call to international sports federations and recommended that Russian and Belarusian athletes not be allowed to participate in any competitions. However, in December, the IOC allowed Russia and Belarus to participate in the 2024 Olympics with neutral status. They must also qualify to participate.
Previously IOC accused in sectarianism.