112 days before the opening of the Paris 2024 Games, the delegation of neutral athletes carrying a Russian passport has just lost a potential representative. He is not the most trivial. His presence in the French capital next summer would have been very visible.
The Russian Wrestling Federation has announced that double Olympic freestyle wrestling champion (86 kg at the Rio 2016 Games, 97 kg at Tokyo 2020), Abdulrashid Sadulaev (photo above), will not be able to earn his selection for the Olympic Games. Paris 2024. He was rejected by the panel of experts of the international body of the discipline (UWW) from participating in the Olympic qualifying tournament, scheduled for Baku from April 5 to 7. A competition whose finalists will win a place for the next Summer Games.
In question, his membership in an army club, Dynamo, and his alleged support for the conflict in Ukraine. According to UWW criteria, Abdulrashid Sadulaev is not eligible for neutral athlete status.
The Russian Wrestling Federation explained this through its president, directly questioning the IOC in a decision taken at the level of the international federation: “ After yet another pseudo-control, the International Olympic Committee has published new lists of athletes who are not authorized to participate in international tournaments. Unfortunately, our team captain and two-time Olympic champion Abdulrashid Sadulaev is one of them. Even if he went to Baku, he would not be allowed to compete. United World Wrestling has contacted us and given us the opportunity to make a replacement. Alikhan Zhabrailov will take part in the competition in Baku. »
Less than four months before the Paris 2024 Games, where Russian participation remains very unclear, Abdulrashid Sadulaev is the first big name to see the doors of the Olympic event close in front of him. Double Olympic gold medalist, five-time world champion (2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021) and four-time European champion (2014, 2018, 2019, 2020), the wrestler from Dagestan was the flag bearer of the ROC delegation at the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Games. Last February, he was already refused entry to Romania, where he was to participate in the European Championships.
Abdulrashid Sadulaev removed from the list even before selection time, Russia loses a heavyweight. He will not be the last to draw a definitive line on his ambitions to join the delegation of AIN, the Neutral Individual Athletes.
Last week, the Russian Archery Federation announced that its top archers would not participate in Olympic qualifying tournaments. It justified their refusal to try their luck by the conditions imposed by the international body - absence of anthem and flag -, by their membership in army clubs, but also by the cost of the eligibility procedure, amounting to 2.000 Swiss francs per athlete.
According to recent statements by the president of the Russian Rowing Federation, Sergei Svirin, a very similar scenario is brewing for the rowers. The manager explained to the agency TASS that candidates for Olympic qualification had already been the subject of an investigation last year, to participate in the world championships. But they will have to repeat the operation this year to hope to be eligible for the Olympic qualifying events, then possibly for the Paris 2024 Games.
« For the study of the data of six athletes and two technicians, we had to pay to the international federation (World Rowing) between 20 and 22.000 Swiss francs », specified Sergei Svirin.
