Russian athletes return to the Taekwondo World Championships.
Russian athletes return to the Taekwondo World Championships. Vladislav Larin (right) participated in the Tokyo Olympics. PDO
Russian athletes are quickly returning to international competitions.
In May, the Russians will compete in the World Taekwondo Championships with neutral national symbols, the international taekwondo association World Taekwondo says in its press release.
The International Olympic Committee IOC recommended at the end of March that sports federations can allow Russian athletes back into competitions. The conditions included that the athletes must not actively support the war, and they must not be in a contractual relationship with the military or national security authorities.
The inclusion of Russian athletes may lead to Ukrainian athletes boycotting the Taekwondo World Championships.
CBCAccording to , the Russian Ministry of Defense has said that 45 of the country’s 71 medals had connections to the Russian military club CSKA at the time of the Tokyo Olympics.
Four Russian athletes won a medal in taekwondo at the Tokyo Olympics. Two of these were golden.
The CBC says that some Russian athletes may still not make it to the Taekwondo World Championships precisely because of their military connections.
The International Taekwondo Federation plans to use a three-step portal to check the impartiality of every Russian athlete.
Russian athletes were not allowed to participate in the 2022 World Cup in Mexico because of the war in Ukraine. The Russians won four medals from the 2019 Games.
In its press release, the International Taekwondo Federation called for peace and promised to continue supporting Ukrainian athletes so that they can participate in taekwondo events.
The BBC reports, that taekwondo is the fourth Olympic sport that intends to take individual Russian athletes back under neutral symbols. In addition to taekwondo, table tennis, judo and fencing have previously made the same decision.
The Taekwondo World Championships will be held on May 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.