Two-time Russian Olympic medalist and current world record holder Kliment Kolesnikov has said he will not race at the 2024 Olympic Games under the existing conditions.
In recent comments made to Match TV, Kolesnikov didn’t take issue with the International Olympic Committee’s stance on allowing Russian athletes to compete as neutrals, but rather the criteria laid out in order to become a neutral athlete.
“It’s good that the IOC, in principle, took this step and made a decision on admission,” Kolesnikov said. “Another thing is that the conditions for neutral status from World Aquatics remain the same. If you don’t agree with them, you don’t get World Aquatics neutral status. If you don’t get neutral status, you don’t qualify for the Olympics.
“I can only speak for myself. There are guys who are ready to agree to these conditions of international federations and perform. I will be happy for them if they go to the Olympics. I can’t agree to this.”
World Aquatics published its criteria for allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutral athletes in September, which includes showing no support for the war in Ukraine and having no contract with the Russian or Belarusian military.
The IOC has a similar set of requirements, which includes (like all athletes) having to reaffirm their commitment to respect the Olympic charter, including “the peace mission of the Olympic Movement.”
Chairman of the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian Federal Assembly) Committee on Physical Culture and Sport, Dmitry Svishchev, recently publically supported Kolesnikov’s decision.
Kolesnikov, 23, won two Olympics medals representing the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in Tokyo, claiming silver in the men’s 100 backstroke and bronze in the 100 freestyle.
The current world record holder in the 50 back in both short course and long course meters, Kolesnikov shared his thoughts on what the Olympics mean to him last month, noting that the Games no longer hold the same significance than they once did in his mind after his initial appearance in 2021.
Andrei Minakov, an Olympic finalist in Tokyo and three-time medalist at the 2019 World Championships, recently said in Russian media that he didn’t see a path for participation in Paris under the current conditions, but stopped short of saying he wouldn’t compete.
“We will wait for a comment directly from the All-Russian Swimming Federation,” Minakov said, according to RSport. “At the moment I don’t see any prospects. It is not clear what it will look like, but it will be interesting to see how it will all develop further.”
All-Russian Swimming Federation President Vladimir Salnikov has sent a letter to World Aquatics disagreeing with the conditions laid out and as of last week had not received a response.
NGL Russia should just team up with China and India to host their own Olympics. Would be a huge power play and would contribute to ending the western control on “global” institutions.
Don’t comment too much about political stuff but are you referring at all to BRICS?
In reading the comments, it is interesting about what wars are designated as ” ban worthy” obviously the terror attack in Israel was going to spark a retaliation..and as uncomfortable as it is, civilians die in every war..In 1948 when the United Nations created the state of Israel, there was nothing but desert. People may disagree about the UN decision, but anti-semitism was rampant across the globe, and as no nation would take the refugees, after the largest genocide in human history, Israel became a nation. And there has not been a long lasting peace since.
How many borders have been redrawn after a war? New nations created, others dissolved? Too many to count. Why is Israel different than… Read more »
He’ll cave and offer a ridiculous rationalization
If IOC is really serious with the Holy Truce Agreement, then any country who is killing civilians on the territory of others should be banned. Of course every war happens for a different reason, but sports organizations have no rights to decide which war is more justifiable. A war is a war. If you are making a ban on wars, ban them all.
Many say it’s problematic to let Ukrainian athletes face Russians on competition field, then how is it not a problem to let Palestinian and Israeli athletes face each other?
Good. Don’t go. Russians stay home
Is Minakov suiting up for Stanford second semester?
Politics aside, I would hate if weak field merchant Murphy could coast his way to some more Mickey Mouse medals
Genuinely one of the most unlikeable athletes of this generation
Murphy: is consistently one of the best backstrokers for 8 consecutive years with no breaks and leverages that consistency to clean up when others don’t
You: puts foot in mouth
Good, one less
A line is drawn. Not from an organization, or organizations, but from a world-record holder. At long last, the plot thickens.
I don’t know, I find this super tricky. Would Israeli athletes also have to comply with such rules regarding the war in Gaza? Or what would we have said if in 2004 any American/British athletes who had supported the invasion of Iraq were subjected to such rules? I agree with the sentiment of keeping the Olympics a neutral place where support for human rights violations and governmental crimes isn’t welcome, but who gets to draw the line and decide which conflicts/actions do and do not qualify seems to be purely political, and that seems to be the kind of thing we *don’t* want to govern the Olympics.
I understand your point of view. Make no mistake. Israel did not attack Hamas. Hamas struck first and Israel declared war. Where is Hamas’ home base? Sadly for the innocents, Gaza. Israel is defending itself. Even in Gaza, where Hamas ran to hide. Russia attacked Ukraine for no legitimate reason whatsoever. Iraq played a role in 9/11. The U.S. declared war on ISIS, which had roots in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. Of those mentioned by you, only one was purely political and the man behind that one is Vladimir Putin. When it comes to wars, there is no confusion.
You conveniently forgot the Israelis decades long oppression on Palestinians.
So. Palestinians are 100 percent innocent? For some reason, I thought Hamas was the largest and most competent militant group in the Palestine territories and one of the territories’ two major political parties. Why? Because it is true. And right now, Hamas wrote a check its a$$ can’t cover.
Fact:
USA attacked and invaded Iraq under fabricated “Weapon of Mass Destruction”.
A million Iraqi civilians were killed as the results.
All 1 million were civilians? None were terrorists? Are you 100 percent certain about that? Or is that what you read somewhere?
your reading comprehension sucks, nowhere in their comment did they say that no terrorists were killed in addition to civilians
Uh, Jeff. Might want to re-read Summer Love’s post, which is specific one I responded to. Then again, I’ll make it easy for you. Summer Love posted this: ”A million Iraqi civilians were killed as the results.” Now, should we talk about your reading comprehension? I’m not sure what the next rung on the ladder is below sucks. But that is where you are currently standing.
“A million iraqi civilians were killed” in no way means 0 terrorists were killed. You are putting words in other people’s mouths. If i said “8 billion chickens are killed each year for food in the US”, you would somehow take that to mean 0 cows and 0 pigs are killed for food
Sorry, I am not writing anyone’s posts but mine. I showed what Summer Love posted in response to your erroneous post about my reading comprehension. It is you who is the ”Spin Doctor.”
If one can list how many civilians are killed, then why can’t the number of terrorists also be listed? Could it be the reason is to support a specific point of view?
I don’t beat around the bush. There is no need for you to read between the lines.
So how many terrorists do you think need to be killed to justify the death of a million civilians?
Man…you guys really went wild with this thread, and didn’t really resolve much. Think of the time you could get back in your life if it didn’t go this deep.
What terrorist?
This is Iraq
USA invaded Iraq because Bush claimed Iraq possessed Weapon of Mass Destruction, which later has been proven false by everyone including USA.
At the moment, I don’t have all the names of the terrorists involved in 9/11. Perhaps you heard of that event, the one that killed 2,977 innocent people as well as injuring more than 6,000. More than one of those terrorists involved carried Iraqi passports, did they not? Then again, your mind is fixated on one story and only one story. I leave you to your hamster wheel. Enjoy the ride.
Obviously you are extremely confused.
Irag was not involved in 9/11.
You confused Iraq for Afghanistan.
Iraq invasion was urged by Rumsfeld to take control of Iraq oil and pushed by Israel to tame Iraq. And Rumsfeld sold the invasion under pretext that Iraq possessed WMD.
Educate yourself.
No confusion on my end. I never said the country of Iraq was involved. I said the terrorists responsible for 9/11 had ties to Iraq. And since ISIS and Al-Qaeda both have presence in Iraq, as well as other Middle East countries, one must go to where the terrorists live. Your response about oil and Israel tells me all I need to know about you. As Israel has shown recently, it doesn’t need the U.S. to handle its own business when it comes to terrorists.
How many of you have been to Israel? Have you ever seen with your eyes the oppression you’re talking about? Do you even know where Israel is on the map?? What oppression are you talking about?? Stop being a keyboard warrior and get your facts checked. If Israel did not care about civilians, the war would have ended on October 8th. And those “innocent” Palestinians that you assuming Israel is targeting? Check the archive for September 12th, 2001 celebrations and you’ll see exactly how “innocent” they are.
Interesting how when it comes to Israel defending itself so many people have something to say, but any other country in this situation? Not a word. Shame on you
I mean, it’s nice to believe there’s no confusion in war, but there’s a strong case to be made for it to be exactly the opposite. The world would be a less confusing place if every war had one “good guy” who is in the right, and one “bad guy” who is in the wrong… There wouldn’t be so much propaganda out there about every conflict out there trying to showcase a particular sides’ innocence if it wasn’t confusing.
The US and UK invasion of Iraq is widely considered a war crime (there’s a reason the US is not a member of the ICC, and even has the American Service-Members’ Protection Act (which allows it to invade an ally(!) for… Read more »
Neither ISIS, nor Al-Qaeda, are countries. Were they, it would have made it a whole lot simpler for the U.S. and its allies to hunt down every single person responsible for 9/11 as well as other terrorist acts. The trouble is, terrorists hide among the innocents because they are cowards. ISIS and Al-Qaeda are punks. Why do they target innocents? You want to fight a war, then fight other soldiers. Don’t crash planes into buildings. It doesn’t take a genius to define what terrorism is. But if you prefer, here is what is listed in the Oxford dictionary: ”A person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.” Exactly how many terrorists were… Read more »
We are moving well and truly beyond the sports topic here. However, your argument is too simplistic. According to your definition there are a lot of groups/people we can identify as terrorists that I doubt you would identify as such. There is hard evidence that the US, UK, and Australian military conducted and covered up extrajudicial killings and torture against civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan and its easy to argue that this is for political gain (i.e. to not lose political support from citizens/politicians, to show “results”, etc.). Israeli settlers and military carry out acts of unlawful violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, dispossessing their land, and routinely locking up West Bank citizens (including children) without pressing any charges… Read more »
So, Israel should just sit back, let its country get bombed, and say, ”Well, we deserve it.” Please. As you have pointed out more than once, it’s never clear-cut. And yet, when one group starts a war, somehow it’s always the fault of the country getting bombed.
You know that this definition of terrorism the pinnacle of that on this century would be someone who just passed away (See Cambodia Bombings) and was not even hiding among civilians, he was praised by many…
You mean Mr. Nixon? If the definition fits, by all means use it. But I must disagree that ”Tricky Dick” was praised by many. Though I wasn’t yet in this world, from years of studying, few were in favor of the U.S. being involved in the Vietnam War.
Nixon is barely an amateur compared to Kissinger..
One took orders from the other. If you want a Top 10 list, it’s wouldn’t take long to fill.
FACT!
Kissinger indirectly caused the death of millions and millions of people in Latin America, Timor, etc.
FACT!
Joseph Stalin deliberately killed 6 million of his own people. But if you take into account the foreseeable deaths arising from his policies, the number is closer to 9 million.
There are countless examples throughout history of who did what to whom. Hitler, Mao, the list is tragically endless. And because of man’s stupidity to learn from its mistakes and from its history, needless deaths continue to this day.
Who’s to blame?
Everyone.
Put the shovel down and turn off the Fox news version of world events.
Sorry to burst your bubble. But I’ve never watched a second of Fox News. Also, I’ve never held a shovel. Any other observations you wish to make? Fiction is my favorite genre.
You’ve never held a shovel?? Or watched a second of Fox News even in like a “loll” clip on the internet?
I don’t know which of those statistics is more stunning to me.
FACTS:
Israel have killed at least 18,000 Palestinian civilians including children and babies.
And the number is increasing by day.
USA vetoed UN resolution for cease fire.
Fact: 18,000 Palestinian civilians would be alive today had Hamas not fired the first shot.
Interesting that you left out the number of Israelis who were murdered, and the number of Israelis still being held hostage.
You actually think the first shot in this conflict was fired on the 7th of October? Or are you just cherry picking a date that works with your argument? Depending on who you ask, this conflict is decades, centuries, or even several millennia old. There were Palestinian *and* Jewish people killed before October 7th, so any action by either party can be claimed to be a reaction on some previous “first” shot. None of that absolves anyone from abiding by international law.
Your “fact” also isn’t a fact – we don’t know if 18 000 people would have been alive if it wasn’t for October 7th (as many Palestinians have been killed prior to this date and there is… Read more »
Isreal has been bulldozing homes in the west Bank for years. That is an attack on palestinians. This alone should have disqualified srael from all competitions yeas ago. Hamas or no Hamas.
Even without the hamas attack, isreal should have been banned years ago.
And to be honest, the US should have been disqualified from all competitions during both the duration of the Vietnam wars and Iraqi wars and I still think American athletes today should receive the deffered ban that never happened for both wars.
And Hamas and its terrorists acts during all those years should be what, swept under the rug?
Don’t stop with U.S. If we are handing out bans, let’s start at the beginning of time and ban any and every country that has ever invaded another country, every and any country that has started a war, and every and any country that his killed innocent civilians. Does that even leave any countries left to compete in the Olympics?
The amount of attention Israel and Palestine war gets makes it seem like two great super powers are at war. But nope it’s a tiny state with a small population…
I wonder why???
Because Israel is perceived to be all that is evil in the Middle East, and the only evil that exists in the Middle East. And there are those champing at the bit to link what Israel did to what Russia has been doing in Ukraine, first in 2014 and then in 2022. And once that can of worms is opened, everything comes back to the U.S. and Iraq, and Vietnam, and (fill in the blank.)
From my end, I was taught that if someone responds to what you have written, it is only polite to acknowledge them.
Because US is a puppet of Israel
Israel? Or the Jews?
And the U.S. was formed on the near-genocide of the native people and on the backs of African slaves. That makes the founding fathers terrorists, does it not?
Let’s continue shall we.
Genghis Kahn. Attila. Cyrus The Great. Napoleon. Alexander the Great. Tamerlane. Charlemagne. Hannibal. Hitler. Julius Caesar. Thutmose III. William the Conqueror. Augustus. Francisco Pizarro. Hernan Cortez.
Should I continue?
I think if you re-read your list, you will see you are proving the wrong point.
All the names listed were conquerors of the past, which would be considered terrorists by today’s standards. The post I responded to was about Israel usurping land from Palestine. Did the Pilgrims not usurp what is now called America from the native people? If they did, then so did every conqueror listed.
You are comparing apples to oranges. As I see that you have the potential of some critical thinking, May I suggest that you read some history on conflicts between Isreal and Palestine for the past many decades?
JoeB would rather read propaganda from Mossad and then claim it’s the truth.
I did not initiate the comparison. I responded to a post that said Israel should be banned the same as Russia because of the current events in Gaza. I simply stated that Israel did not start the war, that its actions were a response to an attack from Hamas. Russia, on the other hand, was the instigator from Day 1. For the life of me, I don’t see how attacking a country and defending a country can ever be considered one and the same. It’s not and it never will be. It is others who dig decades deep and bring the past to present and shove it in faces, saying, ”See. Look what the State of Palestine has suffered through… Read more »
Hamas should be removed not swept under the rug. But Hamas or no Hamas, israel is the ultimate apetheid state. It is literally a Jewish state, not a state for all citizens. It makes apertheid south Africa look like a joke.
Should israel bulldozing palestine homes in the west bank to make room for illegal settlements be swept under the rug?
Also, It,s not about going to the beginning of time with bans It,s about fairness when handing out bans. American athletes and Isreali athletes really should be banned from international competition if we are banning russian athletes. Anything else is hypocritical. There is no way around that.
American athletes should be given a deffered ban for the Vietnam… Read more »
Im going assume you have never been there and know no more than Qatari and Iranian propaganda. Israel has multiple ethnicities with no difference in rights and status towards its citizens and residents regardless of ethnicity and religion
Do you know that 47 percent of all medical graduates in Israel are from the 20% Arab-Israeli population? 57 % of grads in pharma, and these high representations of minority population extends to many STEM fields.
You know where you won’t have this? In Russian Universities.
and here you’ve landed on my original point (!!!) – which is *WHO DRAWS THAT LINE*, because you are right, most countries in the world have done things that are blatantly evil in recent or less recent history
Exactly. It makes the banning of Russian athletes from Paris Olympics look so hypocritical.
Bro thinks russia invaded without a reason..