Exercise now becomes almost daily. But it is nearing the end point. Just over three weeks before the opening of the Paris 2024 Games, and only four days before registration closes, the IOC published on Wednesday July 3 a new version of the list of neutral individual athletes (AIN), bearing a Russian or Belarusian passport, invited to participate in the Olympic events.
The new version adds a single sport. Skinny. But it was eagerly awaited. The IOC is indeed revealing the results of the work of its team of experts concerning swimming. There are not many Russian and Belarusian guests there. They can be counted, both countries combined, on the fingers of one hand.
On the Russian side, the IOC accepted only one swimmer. His name: Evgenii Somov (photo above). A breaststroke specialist, gold medalist in the 200m breaststroke at the European Junior Championships in 2017. Not really the profile of a podium candidate. The IOC specifies in its communication that he was the only Russian swimmer to obtain a qualification quota.
For Belarus, there were three to slip through the cracks of the net set by World Aquatics and the IOC. Two women – Alina Zmushka and Anastasiya Shkrurda – and one man – Ilya Shymanovich. They were the only ones to pass the qualifying minimums. All three were declared eligible.
Will they make the trip? In the case of Evgenii Somov, the answer is positive. The Russian swimmer wrote on his Instagram account: “ I am pleased to announce that I have obtained INA status, which allows me to participate in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris! Circle July 27 on your calendars for 1BR – it’s going to be fun! Hope to see you there. »
Why him and not the others? Easy: Evgenii Somov had been the only Russian swimmer, with Yulia Efimova, the triple Olympic medalist in breaststroke (London 2012 and Rio 2016), declared eligible for neutrality status by World Aquatics. All the other big names in Russian swimming had been rejected by the international body before they could even submit their file to the IOC.
Based in the United States, in Albany, California, after being a student at the University of Louisville between 2017 and 2022, Evgenii Somov was able to participate in American competitions and achieve the qualifying time for 100m breaststroke required by World Aquatics. Yulia Efimova, for her part, was prevented from doing so for a long time because she did not have a visa to go swimming abroad. She tried her luck one last time at the end of June at the national championships in the Bahamas, but was unable to go below the qualifying time.
Less than a week before the deadline for entries, it is now certain that Russia will have a single representative in the first two Olympic sports, swimming and athletics. For the rest, the contours of its delegation remain vague, the athletes invited by the IOC not having all responded by indicating their position.
On the other hand, Russia will be well represented in judo. In its penultimate list, the IOC had granted it four places, for two men and two women. But the Russian federation assured that the invited judokas would not go to France. “ In this situation, the Presidium of the Russian Judo Federation made a unanimous decision: the Russian national judo team will not accept humiliating conditions and will not participate in the Paris Games with the composition proposed by the officials of the International Committee Olympic “, indicated the authority.
Since then, it seems that the unanimity around renunciation has been shattered. The IOC indicates this in the latest version of its AIN list: Makhmadbek Makhmadbekov, selected in less than 73 kilos, winner in 2023 of the Astana Grand Slam, 7th at the last world championships, accepted the invitation.
