In late March we reported how Russian swimmers would be eligible to compete under their national flag at a competition in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with World Aquatics reportedly saying in a statement that the event was not “organized” by them.
However, a source close to the situation has informed SwimSwam that the meet, called “Swim Wars” held in the city of Banja Luka on April 27-28, required any Russian participation to abide by World Aquatics’ restrictions since Bosnia and Herzegovina is a World Aquatics member.
May 10 Update: World Aquatics has opened an investigation into the matter. See full statement at the bottom of this article.
An email sent from World Aquatics Executive Director Brent Nowicki to the Bosnian federation and seen by SwimSwam confirmed that the global governing body informed the Swimming Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina of the restrictions they would need to follow with Russians competing.
Those restrictions include only wearing plain white uniforms (no Russian flags or colors), no participation in press conferences, and no raising or display of the Russian flag.
The source told SwimSwam that Russian swimmers competed with Russian flags on their caps, wore national uniforms pre-race, attended medal ceremonies and press conferences with them on, and that the Russian flag was raised in and outside of the competition venue.
Images from social media confirm as much, clearly showing Russian swimmers at a press conference and a medal ceremony with the Russian flag on display.
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Some of Russia’s best swimmers were in attendance, including world record holders Evgeniia Chikunova and Kliment Kolesnikov.
The source told SwimSwam that half of the federation supported breaking the rules. The meet was also reportedly opened by Bosnian Serb separatist leader Milorad Dodik, a pro-Russian who has been blacklisted by the U.S. treasury and is also currently sanctioned by the British government for undermining the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Dayton Peace Agreement.
Russian and Belarusian swimmers have been under sanction from World Aquatics dating back to March 2022 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In September 2023, World Aquatics approved Russian and Belarusian participation as individual, neutral athletes under a strict set of criteria, which included some of the violations Russian swimmers committed in Banja Luka (see full criteria here).
World Aquatics issued a statement on Friday, May 10, saying it has opened an investigation on the matter after there appears to have been a clear breach of the rules.
“The World Aquatics Integrity Unit has seen the images from the event in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” World Aquatics said. “There appears to have been a clear breach of the rules and an investigation has immediately been opened. Strong action will be taken against any responsible parties who are found to have broken the rules.”
As a Russian I agree with the ban 100%. Unfortunately sports people alongside security guys (siloviki) are the most ardent Putin’s supporters. There are of course some exceptions, most Russian tennis players as far as I know are against the war and they will compete in Paris. But those state-funded c*nts from other sports can f*ck themselves.
my friends…
you have mixed sports and politics too much, you meddle too much in the internal events of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and you know very little about it. In the elections, you call the legitimately elected president of the Republika Srpska “the leader of the Serbian separatists, the destroyer of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the destroyer of the Dayton Agreement and a Russian man”… without ever asking yourself what is on the other side of that policy, what is the alternative for Bosnia and Herzegovina , what is the influence of Iran, Hezbollah, the Saudi Wahhabi family, ISIS terrorists… on Bosnian Muslims and what is the policy they express in relation to Christians in Bosnia and Herzegovina! I personally… Read more »
Your comment is embarrassing at best. Milorad Dodik is a narcissistic, nationalist, & corrupt maniac. Many of his opposition figures are quite similar. Labeling Bosnian population who suffered tremendous human losses during war in 1990’s as extremists and terrorists to justify Serbian goals to continue ethnic cleansing in Bosnia – does not fly any more. What are you into – Christian wars and Inquisition? The only alternative for Bosnia and Herzegovina is multicultural, multi-religious, tolerant civil society. There is land, air and water for everyone. With population moving out to Western Europe, you have plenty of space and resources for all. Every other option is requiring crimes against humanity and genocide and you don’t want to go that way my… Read more »
Thank you for the beautiful text about Bosnia. War initiator bots are forgeting that are not 1990s anymore and that people around the world have now access to any information required to to make a realistic conclusion about the situation. Also millions of tourists that paraded through the country on an annual basis makes any effort to show the strained relations between nations and religions is hopelessly unsuccessful because people have seen from the firsthand the state of consciousness of the people in Bosnia. The only destabilizing influence in the region that is felt at the global level comes from the current mentioned actors- individuals in power- initiators of tension/separation/annexation in the country supported by goverment of their mother country… Read more »
The us sanctions are not working. Russia is winning the war. What will happen if russia ir china wants to put military bases in the border of the US? It will never happen. That’s the hipocrisy of the west. All the wetern ruling class are liers abd psicopaths. Ban the israelis for commiting genocide to be less unfair.
Only in your dreams Russia is winning this war
Ukraine is already lost. All the money you are sending now is for political purposes.. for the election. But russia already won in ukraine and nato will be in trouble when the west process it.
Unless I am mistaken, there is a military base on Big Diomede island.
Yes but it is russia’s national territory. I am talking about nato expansion in ukraine, which since napoleon wars, it has been the door of foreign invasions to russia. Similar thing would be russia putting missiles in tijuana or canadian border. For “security” of course.. 🤣🤣. The biggest threat to worlds security is the us government and the zionist entity that has hijacked it since long ago.
. . . and so?
Obviously prevent them from competing in Paris flag or no flag. End of story.
And NATURALLY, the same applies to, at the bare fn’ minimum, to the 23 Chinese athletes from participating in Paris. End of story.
Since they were banned, have they been tested regularly? Did Russia allow the test to be done even though they knew they could not compete?
I am asking to see if anyone has info because if they have not been tested regularly in the past couple of years then they cannot compete in Paris even if they were allowed to.
Yes, they have undergone testing protocols in recent years. The independence, accuracy, or confidence of those protocols as administered by RUSADA hasn’t really changed – if anything gotten worse, because they are no longer competing at competitions where, say, they would be subjected to testing by World Aquatics.
But keep in mind that some Russians have competed and trained in other countries and therefore been tested by those countries. USADA tested Minakov, for example.
Thank you for the information.
I wonder if Dick Cheney/GWB are bannered from attending any sport events.
Would make a lot more sense than banning Kliment
Exactly!
They killed far far greater number of civilians
Good point! Nobody dared to ban the US in 2003 or Israel in 2023
I wonder if Dick Cheney/GWB are banned from attending any sport events.
Let kolesnikov and Chikonova compete in Paris 2024 please 🥺
#LetChikunovaSwim
Its her decision not to swim, smart girl Kirpichnikova will swim.
Kirpitchnikova is french.
She was Russian 3 yeas ago, competed for Russia)