Russian Wrestlers Won't Compete at 2024 Olympics After Rejecting Invitations
July 6, 2024
A group of Russian wrestlers have rejected an invitation from the International Olympic Committee to compete at the Paris Games as neutrals.
In a statement from the Russian Wrestling Federation (h/t Associated Press),a "unanimous" vote from the athletes, officials and coaches decided the 10 wrestlers who received an invite would "refuse to participate in the Olympic Games."
The Federation also deemed it to be an "unsportsmanlike" invitation.
"We do not accept the unsportsmanlike selection principle that guided the International Olympic Committee when forming the list of eligible athletes," the statement said.
The IOC had extended a total of 57 invitations to athletes from Russia and Belarus. Fourteen athletes from that group already turned down the invite, including one Russian wrestler.
Per the official Olympics website, a total of 30 Russian and Belarusian athletes have thus far accepted invites to the Summer Games as Individual Neutral Athletes.
The Russian wrestlers listed on the site who received an invite were:
- Nachin Mongush
- Shamil Mamedov
- Arslan Bagaev
- Abdulla Kurbanov
- Alan Ostaev
- Magomed Murtazaliev
- Natalya Malysheva
- Veronika Chumikova
- Alina Kasabieva
- Elizaveta Petliakova
According to the AP, the wrestlers would have represented the largest group of Russian athletes in any sport at the Summer Olympics under the Individual Neutral Athlete program.
The IOC launched the program to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete in Paris amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The executive board of the International Olympic Committee announced in December that athletes from Russia and Belarus would only receive invitations if they had no ties to the military or security services, and who have not publicly supported the war.
Russian athletes most recently competed at the 2022 Winter Games as part of the Russian Olympic Committee. The Russian Federation was banned from competing at all major sporting events for four years by the World Anti-Doping Agency stemming from a state-sponsored doping scandal in 2019.