Anastasia Kirpichnikova Qualifies for French Olympic Team After Previously Representing Russia

French distance swimmer Anastasia Kirpichnikova qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 400 free earlier today, marking her first Olympic qualification as a French citizen.

The 23-year-old Russian native previously represented Russia at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, where she placed 7th in the women’s 1500 free, 8th in the 800 free and 14th in the 400 free. She also raced the women’s 10km open water event, finishing 15th.

Kirpichnikova, who has been training in France under coach Philippe Lucas since 2019, requested the All-Russian Swimming Federation to change her sporting citizenship back in early 2023.

She was officially granted French citizenship on April 21, 2023, just in time to represent France at the World Championships that summer. At the competition in Japan, Kirpichnikova placed as high as 6th in the 1500 free and broke the French national record in the event with a time of 15:48.53.

The International Olympic Committee mandates that an Olympic competitor must be a national of the country which they are representing, meaning that despite the length of time that Kirpichnikova had been living and training in France, she would not be allowed to represent her new home country unless she changed her citizenship.

Kirpichnikova is not the first athlete to switch nationalities and represent a different country in the Olympics. It’s not an uncommon occurrence for individuals to change their nationalities, with the IOC approving 11 new changes of sporting nationalities for the Paris Games as recently as three days ago.

Within the swimming community, there have been multiple notable attempts to change sporting nationalities in recent years.

Two-time Olympic medalist Kayla Sanchez represented Canada at the 2021 Olympic Games and multiple World Championships before requesting to change her sporting nationality to the Philippines. The 23-year-old has been representing the Philippines since July 2023.

Originally an American swimmer growing up in the U.S. club system and competing at national meets, Santo Condorelli has represented both Canada and Italy on the Olympic stage over the last decade. Condorelli sought to change his sporting nationality again to compete for the United States in Paris this summer, but was prevented from racing at the U.S. Olympic Trials after being denied eligibility by USA Swimming.