MOSCOW, May 8. The International Canoe Federation (ICF) decided to bar Russian canoe rower Mikhail Pavlov from all of its international tournaments because he clicked the Likes on his social network under Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration video, Yevgeny Arkhipov the President of the Russian Canoe Federation said on Wednesday.

Canoe rowers Pavlov and his teammate Zakhar Petrov were scheduled to participate in the 500-meter distance Olympic qualifying distance race for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

"Pavlov and Zakhar Petrov were initially scheduled to compete in the 500m Olympic qualification in Hungary on Wednesday," Arkhipov said.

"However, a few days before the start, Pavlov was stripped of his eligibility. The canoe double was urgently replaced by Alexey Korovashkov and Ivan Shtyl, who won an Olympic license.

Speaking about the revoked Olympic participation license of 37-year-old Pavlov, Arkhipov said: "Was there a call? Guess, who made the call. Actually the ICF is in charge of making the decision."

The 2024 Summer Olympic Games will be hosted by the French capital of Paris between July 26 and August 11.

IOC’s regulations against Russia

The International Olympic Committee Executive Board convened for a meeting at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, on March 19-20 and following the opening day it decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in the Parade of Athletes and also exclude them from the 2024 Olympics overall medal standings.

The IOC, however, ruled that Russian athletes, cleared to participate in the upcoming Olympics, would not have to sign anything denouncing their country’s special military operation in Ukraine.

On October 12, 2023, the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) until further notice after the Russian organization included the Olympic councils of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions as its members.

The Swiss-based CAS registered on November 6, 2023 an appeal from the ROC against the IOC’s decision on the Russian governing Olympic body’s suspension.

The suspension means that the ROC cannot act as a national Olympic committee or receive financing from the Olympic movement. The IOC however reserved the right to clear Russian athletes to take part in the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 as neutrals. Later, IOC President Thomas Bach said that Russian athletes should have no affiliation with the ROC if they want to compete at the Olympic Games.