The IOC announced the preservation of the possibility of qualification of gymnasts of the Russian Federation for the Olympics

Russian gymnasts will retain the opportunity to qualify for the Olympic Games over the next two years. This was announced on October 14 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

"The International Federation has informed us that over the next two years, athletes will have other opportunities to qualify for the Olympic Games," the IOC told Sport Express.

The organization noted that, within the framework of their powers, they assist international sports federations and national Olympic committees in ensuring the participation of athletes in international competitions. This support extends, among other things, to solving visa issues.

On the eve of the World Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam, the IOC provided assistance to the International Gymnastics Federation (World Gymnastics), which sought to ensure the participation of all qualified athletes in the tournament.

At the same time, the committee stressed that the World Cup is not held under the auspices of the IOC. In this regard, the organization does not have complete information about the reasons for refusals to issue visas to individual athletes and cannot comment on specific cases.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on October 15 that attempts to politicize sports and restrict athletes' participation in international tournaments directly contradict the ideas of Olympism. According to him, the actions of individual states indicate a desire to influence the results of the competitions by deliberately excluding the most powerful participants.

On October 13, the Russian Gymnastics Federation announced that the Netherlands had refused to issue entry visas to Russian gymnasts Angelina Melnikova, Victoria Listunova and Anna Kalmykova. The federation added that the current situation is a direct discrimination against athletes from the Russian Federation. The World Cup will be held in Rotterdam from October 17 to October 25.