“Will Russian foil fencers compete in Poland? Of course not, that’s unacceptable,” said Russian Fencing Federation President Ilgar Mamedov, quoted by the Ria Novosti news agency, three weeks from now. the first qualifying event for the Olympic Games, in women’s foil, in Poznan.
Poland asked Russian and Belarusian athletes to sign a written document stating that they did not support the offensive in Ukraine and that they were not employed by the army or a Russian security body, while respecting established neutrality criteria.
“The Polish Federation forgot that it was a sporting federation, not a political one. Unfortunately, everything is mixed up,” Mr. Mamedov lamented.
“It’s a specifically political statement, nothing to do with sport here,” he said, castigating the lack of “freedom of expression” in his eyes.
“These provocative conditions will not allow us to participate in these competitions. Everything is done for that,” said Ilgar Mamedov once more, this time to the Russian sports daily Sport-Express.
Russian athletes were banned from all international competitions following the launch of the military offensive in Ukraine last year.
The International Fencing Federation (FIE) announced in early March the reinstatement of Russian fencers, a first in international sport in more than a year.
This decision provoked the ire of kyiv and some of its allies.
More than 300 fencers around the world have since signed a petition to denounce the FIE’s position and Denmark, France and Germany have all canceled competitions in the face of the stir.
On March 28, the IOC recommended the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes under a neutral banner and on an individual basis, without however deciding at this stage on the possible participation of these athletes in the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.
However, the Russian Olympic Committee has already deemed these reinstatement criteria “discriminatory”.
