MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. Russia’s two-time Olympic Champion in swimming Yevgeny Rylov thinks it is unlikely that he will be allowed to participate in international events owing to the recent recommendations by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the athlete told TASS on Friday.
"It seems to me that there won’t be any," Rylov said in an interview with TASS in response to a question about international competition. "According to the latest information, I cannot get there even if I officially resign from all law enforcement agencies."
"I think the restrictions will be a little tougher on me," he continued.
"However, things are changing every day," Rylov, who represents Russia’s Dynamo sports association, noted. "A couple of months ago they were saying that we are allowed, everything is fine,, [IOC President] Thomas Bach seemed to be on our side, but then - Bang - as they went back to talking about precautionary measures, and it seems that we are not going anywhere."
"But, the situation may change again in a month and they may decide that everyone can go," Rylov said.
The Russian swimmer added that he was mentally ready to skip the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
"I have already thought about it and prepared myself [mentally]," the Olympic champ said. "However, anything can happen in life."
Rylov, 26, won two gold medals (in the men’s 100-meter backstroke and in the 200-meter backstroke) as well as a silver medal in the men's 4·200-meter freestyle event at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. He also won the 200-meter backstroke at the FINA World Championships in 2017 (Budapest) and 2019 (Gwangju).
After Tokyo was home to the Olympic flame at the 2020 Summer Games, it will travel to Paris for the Summer Games in 2024, and then to Los Angeles in 2028. In 2021, at the 138th IOC (the International Olympic Committee) session in Tokyo, Australia’s Brisbane was selected to host the 2032 Summer Olympic Games.
At its session on January 28, 2023, the IOC Executive Board put forward a proposal to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments but only under certain conditions.
Athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.
Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) President Stanislav Pozdnyakov called these recommendations absolutely unacceptable as they would lead to a split in Russian sports. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov slammed the IOC’s recommendations as discriminatory.