The IOC extended the ban on inviting Russians to sports competitions

As Kommersant reports with reference to the publication of the German sports publication Sport Bild, Bach is convinced that “now is not the time to change recommendations or attitudes” towards Russian and Belarusian athletes.

“We still do not recommend inviting Russian or Belarusian athletes to compete. They still have no anthems, no flags, no national colors”, - the publication quotes the words of the head of the IOC.

Many federations supported the decision of the IOC and banned athletes from the Russian Federation and Belarus from participating in competitions. At the same time, the IOC emphasizes that they do not consider the incident to be sanctions against Russian or Belarusian athletes. Rather, it is a measure to ensure their safety.

A similar point of view is shared by the International Skating Union, which held the World Cup in figure skating without the participation of Russians. For the upcoming tournaments, the quota for athletes from the Russian Federation has been reduced by three times.

As noted by coach Alexander Zhulin. Because of the sanctions, Russia has lost a whole generation of athletes, and the country will not be able to make up for the consequences of this loss for many more years. In addition, experts warned that what happened could force top-level athletes from the Russian Federation to massively change citizenship for the sake of the possibility of further participation in international tournaments.