MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has extended his congratulations to freestyle wrestler Abdulrashid Sadulaev for winning the gold medal at the 2024 World Wrestling Championship this week in the under-92 kg weight category in Tirana, Albania.

"The unjust suspension from participation in the 2024 Olympic Games did not break you, it hardened your character and made you stronger," Putin said in his congratulatory message to Sadulaev, as posted on the Kremlin’s official website.

"At the World Championships in Tirana, you convincingly demonstrated your leadership, confidently defeating experienced rivals and rising to the highest step of the podium for the sixth time," the Russian president continued.

"I believe that your brilliant triumph will serve as an example for the future generations of athletes," Putin added.

The 2024 World Wrestling Championship ran between October 28 and 31, 2024 in Tirana, Albania. Wrestlers who took part in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris were not allowed to compete in the tournament, which was designated as a ‘non-Olympic competition.’

Sadulaev, 28, is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2016, 2020), a six-time World Champion (2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2024), Individual World Cup champion (2020), a four-time European Champion (2014, 2018, 2019, 2020), the Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix winner (2014, 2018, 2024) and a two-time Cadet World Champion (2012, 2013).

In April, Sadulaev was barred from participating in the 2024 Paris Olympics qualifying wrestling tournament in Azerbaijan’s Baku. The athlete was not allowed to participate in the tournament because he publicly voiced his support for the Russian special military operation and was a member of the Dinamo sports society.

IOC sanctions against Russia, Belarus

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.

In late March, 2023, the IOC recommended to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Specifically, 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.