The International Federation of Taekwondo is investigating Russian athletes.
Tatjana Minina (right) won silver at the Tokyo Olympics. PDO
Taekwondo is buzzing.
The sport’s World Championships were held at the turn of May and June in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Russian athletes who do not support the war started by Russia in Ukraine were allowed to participate in the Games.
However, UkrSportBase published videos after the Games in which it says that eight Russian athletes and one Russian coach support the war, says Inside The Games website.
The videos are used to name the winners of medals at the World Championships recently Christina Adebayo, Tatjana Minina mixed Polina Khan.
The videos also mention other Russian athletes who went to the Games in Baku, such as, among others Viasheslav Bovkun, Rafael Kamalov mixed Elisabet Ryadninskaya.
The videos say that the athletes and one of the team’s coaches have liked various social media posts that support the Russian army and the war. They show, among other things, the Z symbol that supports the war.
The World Taekwondo Federation said to the Inside The Games website investigating the case.
– Many of them liked the coach of the Russian national taekwondo team Bolat Iztudinov of publications supporting the war. Iztudinov repeated Russian propaganda in his publications, supports war and Putin in his publications. All of these publications were supported by “neutral” Russian coaches and taekwondo athletes, the video says, according to Inside The Games.
Adebaio, Minina and Khan won bronze medals at the Games. Among other things, Minina has also won Olympic silver in her career.
Kamalov’s participation in the Games was questionable from the beginning, because in 2019 he won gold in the Army Games in the colors of Russia.
Earlier in the spring, the International Olympic Committee IOC recommended that sports federations can accept Russian athletes back to international games with neutral symbols, if they do not support the war or are connected to the Russian army.
A total of 23 Russian athletes competed in the World Championships in Baku with neutral national symbols.
Before the Games, Olympic medalists Vladislav Larin and Maksim Hramtsov were denied the race trips because material supporting the war and Putin was found on their social media accounts. However, they were on the ground in Baku in a different role and the World Taekwondo Federation is investigating whether they broke the rules here.